Moving Towards Tomorrow
by Ariel.611
Summary: Sauske has come back fulfilling his promise to Sakura. Just as he begins to sort out his feelings for his former teammate a child with red eyes and a stranger appear sending them on an adventure in The Land of Wind that will change them both forever. Will they be able to save the world and figure out their feelings in the process? SasukexSakura, GaaraxOC, As well as other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

_"I'll see you when I'm back… and thank you."_ He'd said those words a year ago after lightly tapping her forehead where the diamond that symbolized her power and increased status. It was probably the first time he'd touched her voluntarily without trying to save her life… or take it. She shook her head at the last thought willing the darkness away from her mind.

"Lady Sakura. Is everything alright?" a soft feminine voice said from beside her, snapping the pink haired woman from her thoughts.

"Yes! Yes of course. Sorry I was just spacing out for a second." She replied running her fingers through her hair. "Was there something that you needed Mei?" she asked the young woman standing beside her desk.

The dark haired girl nodded. "Lord Kakashi has requested your presence in his office after your shift here ends." She replied.

Sakura nearly snorted at the girl for saying _Lord_ in front of her Sensei's name. Though she had a healthy respect for the man, perhaps even more so than most of the citizens in the village, to her she would always be the old man obsessed with erotic fiction, and not letting any living soul see his face. She'd secretly hoped that being his doctor on occasion and having access to all of his medical files would allow her to see it at least once but she'd yet to see it to her great frustration.

"Alright then. Thanks for the message." The pink haired woman said as she focused her attention on the file in front of her. When the young woman didn't leave, she glanced up from her desk again.

"Umm… Lady Sakura." Mei said fidgeting nervously.

"Yes." The pink haired woman said softly.

"Your shift is over now." The girl replied gesturing to the clock with her slim hand.

Sakura blinked in surprise and glanced at the clock. Sure enough, it was 6:15 pm meaning her twelve hour shift had actually been over for fifteen minutes already.

"Oh. I guess you're right." The medic replied as she picked up her files and deposited them in the drawer of her desk and locked it. She stood up and walked over to where her jacket was hanging near the door and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. A little shudder went through her body as she took in her appearance. Her pink hair was in disarray from all of the hair pulling she'd done recently as she'd struggled with an epidemic of Mono sweeping through the village. Her cries for upped sanitation falling on deaf ears as it swept through the school system. Dark circles were visible under her eyes, testament of all the extra hours she'd put in over the past couple of days making house calls to those who were too sick to be treated in one visit but not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. She groaned and quickly raked her fingers through her vibrant locks smoothing them somewhat as she adjusted the leaf headband in her hair. "Alright. Let's go see the masked idiot running this town." She muttered under her breath.

Mei gasped in surprise at the older girl's words as she led her though the halls of the hospital. "Lady Sakura, how can you talk about Lord Kakashi that way?" she asked.

Sakura shrugged. "I guess it's just a habit. Don't misunderstand, I know full well just how powerful he is, but to me he'll always be like a second father so that's how I treat him."

Mei nodded and her shoulders visibly relaxed as they left the hospital grounds and headed towards the large building where the current Hokage was deskbound. As they walked Sakura felt a brush of something hot and electric in her mind and turned her head towards the sensation. It felt so familiar yet vanished before she could lock on to it.

"Lady Sakura?" Mei said glancing at her curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"No. It's nothing." Sakura replied as she turned her head back to face the direction her feet were taking.

A pair of black eyes stared at the pink haired woman's back as she walked away. He silently cursed himself. He'd forgotten how in tune to his chakra she was and barely masked it in time and vanished into the crowd when she turned. However he wasn't exactly sure why he was hiding, let alone from her. He watched her closely and picked up the slight shuffle of her gait and how her hand came up frequently to touch her temple and rub her neck. The woman was exhausted and he could tell. Concerned for her well-being, he slowly followed the pair through the streets that were mostly clear due to the earliness of the hour. They were steps away from the Hokage's building when a voice sounded loudly in the quiet of the streets.

"Sakura!" A voice called out and the dark haired man's eyes narrowed as he realized he didn't recognize the man whom the voice belonged to. He watched from a distance as the young woman turned slightly at the call of her name and a young man likely in his early to mid-twenties descended the steps leading from the office building.

"Leo." Sakura said as she nodded in greeting to the man. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked.

"I'm here delivering a message from the Kazikage to the Hokage." The young man replied. He was tall, nearly seven feet tall with dark hair, blue eyes and a headband bearing the symbol of the village hidden in the sand on his forehead. "I was hoping to run into you." He said with a smile. "I know that I was just one of the thousands you saved on the battlefield, but I really am thankful to you."

Sakura blinked and her lips turned up slightly a little dusting of pink appearing on her cheeks. "You really don't have to thank me." She replied her voice shaking a little. "I was just doing my duty."

The young man nodded. "I know that, but I'll still continue to thank you every time I see you."

The young medic nodded. "Suit yourself then."

The young man studied her for a moment. "Are you ok, Sakura?" he asked.

Sakura tilted her head a little seemingly confused by his question. "Last I checked." She replied. "Why?"

"You just look a little… dull." He finally said settling on the right word. "Like the life is being sucked out of you."

The dark eyed observer's brow furrowed slightly. This man had noticed as well?

Sakura blinked and then shrugged. "I work a lot." She explained. "Maybe it's finally catching up to me."

Leo nodded and then his blue eyes lit up. "I know! Why don't you come with me to the village hidden in the sand?" he suggested. "You could visit Lady Chiyo's grave and I'm sure that Lord Gaara would be more than happy to see you again. He's so grateful to you for saving his brother's life."

Sauske Uchiha's eyes widened at that. He knew that things had changed but he never imagined that the pink haired girl and the red head sand wielder would ever be on good terms.

Sakura smiled and a little moisture came to her eye which intrigued him before she answered. "Thanks for worrying about me Leo. I'll think about it. Right now I need to go see the Hokage." She replied.

"Alright." The young man replied. "Do you want me to wait for you? I can take you out to breakfast when you finish." he asked. The dark eyed observer's hands balled into fists as the tall man asked the pink haired medic on a date.

"No. I'll be fine. I'm just going to go home and go to bed after this. I'm exhausted. Maybe another time." She said before nodding to Mei who led the way inside the building.

Leo watched them go and then sighed. "Damn! Why won't she let me take care of her?" he muttered.

"She can take care of herself." The dark eyed man said softly as he walked towards the large central building startling the tall man. His eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed.

"You're Sauske Uchiha." Leo said quietly.

The dark eyed man said nothing as he stood dressed in black before the blue eyed man.

Leo grit his teeth at the silence before speaking again. "You're the reason aren't you?" he snorted as he looked the man up and down. "She's wasted on you." He said his voice laced with venom.

Sauske's brow rose at his comment before a smirk crossed his lips. "Jealousy doesn't look good on you Leo of the sand."

Leo snorted. "It doesn't look much better on you, Sauske Uchiha." He replied before the tall man vanished with a light pop and a puff of smoke.

Sauske blinked and then glanced up at the windows to the office where Sakura was likely headed. Was he jealous? Perhaps. It had been a year since he'd left promising her to come back. It was different from when he left before. He was no longer a broken boy trapped in the self-destructive cycle of vengeance. Nor was he the selfish teenager desperate for power. During those times, his thoughts had drifted to her, more often then he'd ever dared to admit and an immediate sense of annoyance would follow as he quickly banished the thoughts cursing her for being annoying even while apart. Now, he was a young man on the road to redemption. A man desperate to repair all of the damage he had caused over the years and see the world with new eyes no longer clouded by hatred. With his new purpose came a new way of thinking and now when his thoughts drifted to the pink haired medic, he allowed them to linger, encouraged them to even. He'd often wondered how she was, what she was doing. He didn't really worry for her safety for she was no longer the fainthearted girl from their childhood, she was a strong, capable woman who was known far and wide for both her amazing healing abilities and her monstrous strength. There was also the blonde, whiskered idiot here to look after her. No, his thoughts were often caught in a different cycle, one where he wondered why she still loved him after all he'd done to her. One where he wondered how he could make her happy when he didn't think he deserved to be happy himself.

Shaking his head a little to refocus, he glanced up at the windows again and sensed that the pink haired woman had reached her destination. Deciding now was as good a time as any since he also needed to report in to the Hokage anyway, he leapt into the air and landed lithely on the sill of the window with his back to the wall careful not to reveal his position. He watched the masked, silver haired Hokage as he spoke and smirked. Piles of paperwork surrounded him and he looked rather ruffled. Paperwork was never really his strong suit so it didn't surprise the Uchiha in the slightest. His attention then turned to the pink haired young woman standing across the desk and his brow furrowed slightly, the corners of his lips tugging into a frown. Now that he was closer, he could see just how worn out she really was. The dark circles under her eyes, the rumpled state of her hair, the way her shoulders rolled slightly forward as though they ached and were heavy. She turned away her focus shifting to the young woman standing beside her and he decided that now was good enough to reveal himself. In the blink of an eye, he entered the room standing near the Hokage's desk. The silver haired man merely glanced at him and he knew that his old sensei had known from the start that he was there. However, the pink haired woman didn't.

He watched as her head turned towards him and her eyes widened. Surprise, and relief quickly flitted across her face before her lips parted and she spoke his name softly as if speaking a prayer. "Sauske."

His stoic mask hid a waterfall of emotions as he stood there. He'd never admit it to a living soul but he felt a little thrill at the way she reacted to him. His hyper sensitive eyes and ears picked up on everything. How the pulse point at her neck jumped, the sharp intake of breath, the tiny beads of sweat that formed on her brow. It gave him great satisfaction to know that she reacted this way to him and him alone. He watched her war with herself as part of her body shifted towards him and then froze as if she was confused as to whether she should approach him or not. Deciding he'd make it easier for her for once, he strode towards her and reached out with his good hand. He tapped her lightly on the forehead the greatest expression of his feelings for her that he could muster.

"Sakura, I'm back." He said softly.

She blinked and he nearly smirked when he saw pink blush feather across her cheeks at the touch.

"Welcome back." She replied softly her emerald eyes meeting his. He felt something warm spread through his body as he held her gaze, saw the warmth in her eyes that he knew he didn't deserve but appreciated all the same.

"Indeed. Welcome back Sauske." Kakashi said interrupting the intimate moment. "I trust your travels went well?"

Sauske nodded as he turned to face the masked man. "The war had very deep effects, particularly in some of the smaller villages but they're slowly making progress."

Kakashi nodded. "Very well. I'll need a report on your observations as soon as possible."

The dark haired man nodded. "Of course, but will you actually read it?" he asked glancing at the mountain of paperwork on the Hokage's desk.

"Good question." Sakura said from beside him. "I don't even he's read the report I sent him last week informing him I'd found the culprit behind the sickness spreading through the teens and young adults here."

The silver haired man sighed, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I remember when you two were young, and innocent and had no doubts at all about my greatness."

The door burst open and a young man with blonde hair bounded in. "Yeah that was back before we learned what you're really like." He said grinning from ear to ear.

Sauske coughed as the blonde bounded forward and enveloped him in a bear hug so tight it nearly cracked his ribs.

"Sauske! You're back!" he exclaimed.

"Naruto, let me go before I destroy you." He threatened.

The blonde chuckled and released him before tousling his dark hair with his hand. "Oh lighten up!"

"I'll light you up." Sauske replied darkly.

"Ah. This takes me back." Kakashi said with a contented sigh, "Anyway, I'm sure you're exhausted Sauske and exhausted doesn't even begin to touch how Sakura is probably feeling."

"Oh no. I'm fine." The pink haired girl said lifting her hands. "Really."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How much overtime did you work this past week?" he asked.

Sakura's eyes widened and then she glanced away. "Maybe like, ten… hours…." She muttered.

"Is that including the time spent in the library and laboratory after hours?" he asked.

She sighed her shoulders slumping forward. "Darn it! Who snitched on me?" she muttered.

Naruto chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head earning himself a death glare from the pink haired girl. "What?" he asked. "I'm just worried about you. That's all."

Kakashi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Seriously? I'm used to telling those two idiots to stop so they don't kill themselves but I'm not used to having this conversation with you."

"I know. I'm sorry." She replied sheepishly.

"I know that too. Just try not to push yourself so hard ok?" he said gently. "Now go home and get some sleep, in fact, take the next few days off alright?"

The pink haired girl opened her mouth to protest but immediately shut it when she saw the look in her old Sensei's eyes.

"Yes sir." She muttered.

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed hooking his arms around his friend's necks. "That means the three of us can hang out together just like old times! It's going to be awesome!"

Sauske sighed. He really was tired after all of his traveling and being around his blonde best friend was undeniably draining.

"No being awesome until after I get some sleep." Sakura muttered.

"You and Sauske go get some sleep and then we'll meet up for a late lunch around two this afternoon ok?" Naruto said his smile wide. "Ramen is on me!"

"Cool. Sounds good." Sakura said giving her friend a weak thumbs up. "If there's nothing else, would it be alright if I called it a day, or night…" she raked her fingers through her hair. "Whatever time of day it is, these graveyard shifts are throwing me off so much."

Kakashi chuckled. "Of course. See you guys later."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks Kakashi, see you Naruto," she said waving, she turned away and Sauske saw her eyes linger on him for a moment. "Sauske." She said softly as she approached the door.

Sauske watched her for a moment seeing how her gait wavered a little and then sighed. "I'll see her home." He said simply before he followed after her.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked him as he came up beside her adjusting his stride to hers.

"I'm just going to walk you home." He said as they walked down the stairs and out the front doors into the cool morning air.

"Why?" she asked as they navigated the streets that were just starting to stir.

He shrugged. "No reason." He replied as they approached a newer looking apartment building. He followed her inside and up to the third floor where they stopped at one of the doors.

"Well this is it." She said tucking her hair behind her ear nervously before she pulled out her key and inserted it into the lock. She turned the knob and pushed the door open. Her movements stopped for a moment and he watched her curiously.

"Do you have a place to stay?" she asked suddenly.

He blinked in surprise at the question. As he thought about it, he realized that he didn't. Though he knew the house he grew up in was still intact, he wasn't ready to go back. Staying with Naruto was a health hazard in more ways than one too.

"Hm. I guess not." He admitted.

"You could stay here." She said softly her face turning red all the way to the tips of her ears. He fought hard to hide a smirk at her nervousness. "I mean, I have an extra futon you could lay out in the living room if you wanted to. I got it because sometimes my parents stop by and Ino comes over a lot to whine about Sai…"

Part of his mind wanted to refuse. It was an intrusion of her privacy and it would only make the list of debts he owed to her bigger. There was still a large part of him that was desperate to keep his distance from her because of all the pain he'd put her through. The larger part of him however, was eager to accept her invitation. The part of him that was tired of the darkness and desperate for the light and warmth that her presence provided. His tired body also agreed with that side of him and he slowly nodded. "I'd really appreciate that." He said as he crossed the threshold of her apartment.

He was satisfied with what he saw there. It was decorated simply with little accents of the cherry blossoms of her namesake here and there. A large book shelf covered most of the wall and there was two doors. Sakura approached the first door and pushed it open revealing a western style bed, night stand and desk. She knelt down beside the bed and tugged something out from underneath it. The motion rocked the bedside table and she cursed as something tumbled from it clattering onto the floor.

"I'll get it." Sauske said moving into the room. He picked up the fallen frame and blinked in surprise as he looked at the picture within the frame. It was an old photograph surrounded by a wooden frame. The paint on the frame was worn on the side evidence that it had been handled frequently. He also noticed a few cracks filled with clear glue meaning that it had been repaired at least once. Inside the frame was a picture of four people. On the far right was a young Naruto with his arms crossed glaring at a person across the frame. In the middle was Sakura her eyes squeezed shut as she smiled broadly her hands framing her own face. In the far left was himself, glaring at the camera with his hands in his pockets wearing the blue and white clothes he favored in his youth and above all of them his one visible eye closed as he grinned behind his mask was Kakashi. He lifted the frame and placed it back on the bedside table before he glanced down at the strong young woman who had once been the giggling girl pictured.

She answered the question he didn't need to verbalize. "It kept me going." She said softly. "That picture listened to me, watched me cry," she lowered her head. "the poor thing even took a beating a couple of times." She glanced up at him and smiled. "Maybe we can take another one to replace it?"

He glanced at the picture again. She'd never given up on him in all the years he spent nursing the darkness in his heart. A picture of the four of them together was more than a reasonable request. He simply nodded in agreement. Without any other warning, she sprung up from the floor and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed.

He blinked in surprise and struggled to stay balanced as his heart pounded in his chest and his breathing hitched in his throat. It was a new feeling to him. Her closeness had never affected him like this before. He warred with himself as his hands twitched at his sides. Part of him wanted to return her embrace while the other part wanted to push her away in order to get his body back under control. She didn't give him time to decide and pulled away quickly.

"Sorry." She muttered as she bent over and lifted the futon. "I get touchy feeling when I'm tired." She admitted before holding the bedding out to him. "I'd set it up for you but I'm exhausted. The bathroom is behind the door at the end of the hall and feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen if you get hungry."

He blinked in surprise and took the bundle from her. Their fingertips brushed as the bedding changed hands and he felt what seemed like electricity on his skin for a brief moment. Glancing up he saw her cheeks color again and wondered if she felt the same. He was half temped to ask but a wave of exhaustion hit him like a tidal wave and he decided against it.

He moved towards the door and then stopped just before crossing the threshold. He turned back to look at the pink haired girl just as a gust of wind slipped in through the partially open window tossing her hair into the air. In that moment he nearly lost his breath, her hair dancing like cherry petals around her face, the indigo diamond that was proof of her strength and power, her emerald eyes that shone with passion he'd never appreciated until he'd begun to shake the darkness of his own soul. The desire to touch her nearly drove him mad but he resisted instead choosing to touch her with his words.

"Sakura," he said softly. He waited for her eyes to meet his before he continued. "Thank you."

The warm smile that touched her lips was all the proof he needed that she understood the deeper meaning behind them and he was satisfied for the moment. He left the room closing the door behind him and laid the bedding out in her living room. He shed his cloak hanging it next to her jacket near the door and then made his way to the futon. Laying down, he finally allowed his body to relax wincing a little as his aches and pains began to throb. His new arm in particular bothered him but Lady Tusnade had told him that it would for a long time, potentially the rest of his life even. He lifted the bandaged limb and sighed. It was a small price to pay in the long run he'd decided. According to fate, he should've died there locked in battle with the one person in this world that had the power and the desire to bring him home. Instead, they'd both survived giving him the chance to finally break the vicious cycle of hatred and destruction. He glanced at the wall separating him from Sakura and then closed his eyes as he focused on her presence nodding in approval as he sensed her slowed breathing and her chakra level beginning to rise. He then felt his own breathing slow and even out and was amazed at how quickly it was happening. He turned on his side to face the wall and took a deep breath feeling warmth spread through him again as he was enveloped in Sakura's scent. A thought entered his mind spoken in the voice of his blonde haired, blue eyed, idiot. "Wherever someone's still thinking about you, that's your home." He smirked as sleep began to claim him. He quite agreed with the idiot's reasoning which meant that for the moment he was home and glad to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura tossed and turned as the temperature in her room continued to rise. A single sliver of sunlight snaked in through her curtains slashing across her face and she groaned. Turning away from the offending source of discomfort, she opened one eye and glanced at the bright red numbers of her alarm clock. The time read one fifteen and she smiled. She still had plenty of time to sleep before her evening shift started at six. With a contented sigh she rolled over ready to give herself over to sleep again when the sound of water splashing against tile caught her attention. Her shower was running? She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, it was completely dry. Her hand fell to her pillow, it was dry too so there was no way she accidently left the shower running or something after returning home from work. That meant there was someone else in her apartment! Her heart pounded as she leapt out of bed her hand grabbing a kunai from her bedside table and she flattened herself against the wall just as the water turned off. She heard footsteps moving in the bathroom and took a deep breath before she dashed out the door to her room and entered the hallway the knife raised in front of her. The bathroom door swung open and the weapon immediately slipped from her hands clattering to the floor.

Sakura's first thought was that she had to be dreaming, which was quickly followed by the thought that she needed to thank the dream gods for the blessing before her. Standing in the doorway of her bathroom was the man of her dreams, the man she had loved since she was a child and would likely love for her entire life, Sauske Uchiah in all of his glory clad in nothing but a towel that rode deliciously low on his hips. Her heart thundered in her chest as her eyes quickly roamed up his body starting from the toes, over the toned legs, past the white cloth, to the abs sculpted by the gods themselves up to his broad chest before they settled on his face which to her surprise was tinged with a little bit of pink.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" he asked. His good hand lifted above his head holding a second towel that seemed to be frozen in the middle of the act of drying his ebony spikes.

Sakura blinked and then gasped color flowing up her neck and coloring her pink to the tips of her ears as the memories from earlier that day came flooding in. No, this wasn't a dream, Sauske really was here because she'd invited him to be. Openly ogling him like that was probably one of the stupidest things she could've done.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!" she exclaimed turning away from him in embarrassment. "We're supposed to meet Naruto in less than an hour so I don't have time to shower. I'll just hurry and change." She muttered before dashing away and slamming the door behind her. She leaned against it mortification washing over her and nearly growled when she swore she heard a light low chuckle from the hallway. Damn him! He knew exactly what he did to her! He probably planned that. Taking a deep breath, she summoned what little dignity she had left and quickly went to her closet. Her fingers lightly brushed over the military green jacket and navy blue shirt and pants that were standard issue for a ninja of her status thankful that she hadn't truly needed to wear them in over a year. Her memory drifted to the moment when Sauske had returned to fight alongside them on the battle field and how determined she'd been to prove to him that after all of their time apart that she wasn't the weak, giggling little girl she'd been when he left. She let out a depressed sigh as she realized that all that effort had likely gone down the drain after ogling him like that. Maybe she hadn't changed as much as she thought. Her hand then feathered over the loose fitting scrub tops and bottoms she usually wore to work at the hospital and the white doctor's coats that bore her family symbol on the back. She knew it made her parents proud to see how far she'd come and it made the extra time spend sewing the circle on by hand worth it. Finally, she came to the section of clothes she was looking for, her more casual clothes. A little frown touched her lips as she noticed the limited options there.

"I really need to get out more." She muttered as she fingered through her things finally settling on a red Chinese style dress pairing it with black leggings. Out of habit, she wrapped bandages around her thigh and attached her weapons pouch there. She grabbed her hair brush from her vanity and pulled it through her pink locks breathing a sigh of relief when they behaved curing under a little to frame her face. She picked up her leaf band and tied it in place in her hair before and checked herself over in the mirror one last time. Her eyes glanced at the clock. One forty, perfect timing. They'd have to leave soon to reach Naruto's favorite ramen shop so there wouldn't be time for any awkward conversations between her and the object of her affection and at the moment, shame. She walked out of her bedroom and into her kitchen feeling her heart stumble in her chest as she caught sight of Sauske sitting at her kitchen table sipping on what she guessed from the aroma was green tea his eyes focused on the newspaper she had delivered every morning. A view like this was one she could very much get used to. Sensing her presence, the dark haired man laid the paper down and glanced at her. A little smirk touched his lips as he looked at her.

"I see that your favorite color to wear is still red." He said quietly.

She blinked and then blushed a little before bouncing back. "Excellent observation." She replied quickly. "I see your favorite colors are still black, blue and purple. Or is that just a way of warning people that if they get too close they'll end up that color?" He was wearing black pants and a black shirt with bandages wrapped around the lower part of his legs as well as his replacement hand and arm. A blue bandana was wrapped around his head and purple scarves were wrapped around his wrists.

He blinked in surprise and then chuckled. "Touché." He replied as he rose from the table and moved towards her. He reached out with his good hand and opened it revealing the kunai she'd been holding earlier. "You dropped this." He said as she took it from his hand.

"Yeah… Sorry about that. Again." She muttered as she slipped the knife into the pouch on her leg.

He shook his head. "No, don't be. I'm just glad you're not as vulnerable as you used to be."

She blushed and smiled at his comment. She knew that in Sauske's language, that was as close to a compliment as she was going to get. Shaking her daze, she moved forward and grabbed her little white purse from where it hung on the wall and her keys slipping them inside.

"We better get going. If we're even a minute late that blonde haired idiot is going to come looking for us and drag the entire town with him." She said as she opened the door.

Sauske nodded and followed her out of the building and down onto the streets. They walked in companionable silence for a few minutes and Sakura couldn't help but smile. Even though they weren't touching, just having him near made her feel at peace. After years of fighting and searching, she was finally able to walk by his side again. Her peace was soon interrupted though when a group of shrill voices cut through the quiet air like a knife.

"Oh my gosh! It's Sauske Uchiha!" a girl with short blonde hair and violet eyes exclaimed.

"Is it really?" her red head friend replied her green eyes widening.

"He's just as good looking as the rumors said!" their dark haired companion replied as she focused her own brown eyes on him. "We should go up and talk to him!"

"Are you crazy!? He's with Sakura!" the red head replied.

"So what?" the blond replied flipping her hair. "You've heard the stories right? They're just friends. He's brushed her off so many times it's embarrassing. She's not really a threat to us."

"True that!" the dark haired girl agreed. "Let's go!"

Sakura took a deep breath as the girls quickly approached and turned on the flirt twirling their hair as they told the onyx eyed man how brave, strong and handsome he was. Though it irritated her, she wasn't about to show it. After all, what they'd said was true. She glanced at the dark haired young man and nearly smirked at the little flash of irritation that flitted across his eyes as the blonde girl, clearly the gutsiest of the group touched him lightly on the arm. It occurred to her, that he'd likely given that look to her an infinite amount of times while they were growing up, she'd just been too dense to notice it.

"Sakura!" a voice called out catching her attention. She turned at the voice and immediately recognized the one calling her and smiled broadly.

"Kiba." She exclaimed as the dog training ninja jogged up to her, his faithful furry companion Akamaru at his side. "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm doing great!" he exclaimed a toothy grin taking up most of his face. "I was just looking for you."

"Me?" she asked in surprise. "Why me?"

He scratched the back of his head nervously and blushed. "Well, you see, one of my genin she really wants to become a medical ninja. I was hoping you could stop by during our training session tomorrow and give a little demonstration. I'll treat you to dinner afterwards to make up for it."

She smiled at him and blushed a little. He was so sweet and she'd met his squad once before. The girl on his squad was named Ayame and from what she'd seen, the girl had potential but doubted herself because of her male teammates' superior power. She sympathized with her, she'd been the same way with Naruto and Sauske. "I'd love to." She replied easily.

"Really?" Kiba replied smiling broadly.

The pink haired woman nodded. "Of course! Ayame is a pretty amazing girl. She has a lot of potential and those boys of yours look like they could use a crash course in not underestimating their opponent." She said with a wink.

Akamaru barked excitedly as Kiba nodded. "Great! I'll get you all the details soon!" he then glanced at the ground. "Are you busy right now? I haven't eaten lunch yet and I was wondering if you'd like to go get something with me."

Sakura blinked and then smiled at the dog trainer. "Thanks Kiba. Any other day I'd take you up on that offer but you see…" She was startled when a large hand wrapped around her forearm.

"Sakura. Naruto is waiting." A low voice said firmly cutting her off.

Kiba's eyes widened for a moment before he shifted backwards slightly. "Sauske Uchiha. I didn't know you were back in town." He said quickly.

"I arrived this morning." Sauske replied easily before turning to look down at the pink haired young woman. "Come Sakura." He said pulling her with him as he headed down the street.

"Right." She replied trying to quiet her thundering heart. Her hand raised in a wave as she flashed Kiba a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she said before turning back to Sauske. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

He merely nodded quickly but she could tell something was off about him. His grip on her arm was tighter than it probably needed to be and she recognized the pressure from when they were children. The few times he'd touched her with this amount of pressure where in situations where he was protecting her though she couldn't imagine what she needed to be protected from at the moment.

"Sauske…" she began but he cut her off again.

"We're nearly there. I can hear the idiot from here." He muttered.

They quickly entered the ramen shop and just like Sauske had said, Naruto was already there his foot tapping impatiently as he rambled to the old man at the counter about how late his friends were. His attitude and demeanor however immediately changed as he noticed their presence his face breaking into a bright, sunny smile.

"Hey guys! You're late!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Sakura said slipping onto the stool next to her blonde teammate. "Kiba stopped me on the street. He wants me to help train his genin tomorrow."

"Really? Those kids of his are in for a world of pain." He chuckled.

"It sounds like you're speaking from experience." Sai said from his seat on the opposite side of the blonde.

"Don't act like you don't have experience in it either. She's thrashed you too remember?" the blonde pouted.

Sakura giggled lifting her hand to cover her mouth and noticed Sauske sitting stiffly beside her. "Sauske?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged and then looked at Naruto. "Are we going to order or what?" he asked.

"Right! Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed punching the air. "We're celebrating today so bring it on!"

Sauske's nose wrinkled as he glanced across the bar at his blonde best friend who was shoving food into his mouth with speed that boggled the mind. It made him a little sick to his stomach and he quickly looked past the blue eyed boy to the one next to him that was as pale as the paper he painted on. He'd never really been sure of what to think about his 'replacement'. He'd heard that he was put with the team partially due to his similarity to himself. He watched as Sai made a comment about Naruto's manhood making the blonde blush and then threaten to beat him. Sakura just sighed in a way that told him that it happened often and then smacked them both telling them to be quiet and eat. He could see a little resemblance he supposed. The boy had dark hair, black eyes and like himself was a man of few words. It kind of irritated him to know that he'd been replaced at all though it was a terribly selfish thought and he knew it. He'd heard stories of their missions together and had even heard that the painter had suffered a broken arm and been poisoned by a giant spider while saving Sakura. His head lowered a little at the thought, what would've happened if Sai hadn't been there? Would Sakura have died? How different would his life turned out if the bubble gum haired girl had died in that cursed hole in the ground? He shook his head of the thoughts that he knew would lead to nothing but darkness and decided to just be grateful that the young man had been there for her while he'd been off chasing the demons of his past.

"So I was thinking, since you're off tomorrow, how about we all train together after Sakura gets done working with the kiddos?" Naruto suggested. "They'd probably learn a lot from watching us war heroes duke it out right?"

Sakura nodded. "That sounds like a good idea Naruto. I haven't had a good spar in weeks thanks to my ridiculous shifts at the hospital."

Naruto nodded. "I know. It doesn't help that you rush to and from work every day to avoid your fan club."

Sauske's eyes shifted to her at that comment and he noticed her blush before she laid her head down on the bar and groaned.

"Ugh! Don't remind me." She moaned.

"Fan club?" Sauske repeated.

Naruto glanced at him and nodded. "Yeah. She saved a lot of lives during the war and a lot of the guys she helped fell in love with her. Her mailbox is still pretty full of love confessions and a bunch of them like to wait for her before and after work to walk her home. She always turns them down of course."

Sauske's eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't know anything about that.

"Anyway, let's not talk about that." Sakura said raising her hands slightly. "So how has your training with Kakashi been going Naruto?" she asked.

"Oh that?" he replied with a sigh. "It's so boring. All I do is read papers all day."

As the blonde rattled off his list of boring tasks Kakashi made him do, Sauske's mind drifted back to the events just prior to their arrival at the ramen shop. Fangirls were, in the dark haired avenger's mind, some of the most annoying creatures in existence. The three village girls had nearly driven him crazy with their words that nearly dripped with sugary sweetness that all girls seemed to think boys went for. The blond was particularly irritating with her damned busy hands and snide comments towards his teammate. He'd been near the end of his rope when Kiba and Akamaru had shown up. At first he'd thought that maybe the pair had come to greet him and save him from the torture the three dim witted girls were putting him through, however, it turned out to be quite the opposite. How had he not seen it before? Seen the growing infatuation in the dark haired man's eyes as he talked with the green eyed medic, the nervous shifting of his feet, the blush that crept across his cheeks. He'd quickly discovered that watching another man flirt with Sakura was the only thing more annoying than having three girl's throw themselves at him. After all, he'd had years of practice dealing with annoying members of the opposite sex dealing with a love sick Sakura in their youth and clueless Karin after that. He shuddered at the thought of the red head. A few months after joining forces with her he'd realized that silly Sakura was far more tolerable than that clingy woman.

Watching Kiba with Sakura was a different experience though. It was more than just irritation, it was deeper than that, more consuming than that. Part of it even awakened the warrior in him sparking the desire to remove her from harm. It didn't make sense. Why did he care if she went with the dog trainer to eat?

"Sauske!" her voice finally reached him pulling him from his confounding train of thoughts.

"Yes?" he replied quickly.

"I was wondering if there was anything you needed to do today." She replied. "Naruto has to go back to work now."  
He blinked. "Oh, right. I can't really think of anything." He replied quickly embarrassed that she'd caught him lost in thought.

"Ok. Then would you mind coming to the market with me? I need to pick up a couple of things for dinner." She said.

"I don't mind." He replied quickly. If he left her alone, she'd probably end up being hounded by more men.

"Great! It's settled then!" she said pushing away from the counter.

"Can I come for dinner?" Naruto asked his eyes wide with anticipation.

Sakura chuckled. "I don't mind but I think Hinata would." She replied. "Did you forget what day it is?"

The blond thought for a moment and scratched his head for a moment before his eyes widened and a blush crept up his cheeks. "That's right! It's Thursday which means…"

The pink haired woman nodded and winked. "That means your evening is spoken for. Have fun tonight, but not too much." She warned.

"Right." He replied with a sheepish smile. "Fine! Tomorrow on the training grounds then! See ya!" he said slamming the money on the counter before dashing off down the street.

Sai stood up and came closer to the two of them. "I take it things between Naruto and Hinata are going well?" he said watching the blonde bound out of the shop.

Sakura snickered. "Of course they are! I mean how could they go badly? She's been in love with him since they were kids. There's no way things could go wrong now that he's finally figured out his own feelings for her and though she might not seem like it, Hinata is tenacious. There's no way she'll let him go now."

Sauske blinked dumfounded. Naruto and Hinata were a couple? Just how much had changed in the year he'd been gone. More importantly, how had the blonde idiot gotten a girlfriend before he had? He'd thought the blue eyed boy would always be head over heels in love with Sakura.

"Would you mind if I came along with you to the market? I need to buy some more paint." Sai said as the three of them exited the shop.

"It's no problem." Sakura said as they made their way down the street. As they walked, Sauske found himself studying the people lining the streets. It was clear by the wide birth they were given that most of the people didn't trust him which was completely understandable given the way he'd acted in the past. They neared a familiar stand filled with flowers of all sorts and Sakura snickered confusing the onyx eyed avenger.

Sai glanced at his pink haired companion and blush immediately came to his cheeks as he took a step towards her. "Don't do it, Ugly." He threatened.

Sauske's brow wrinkled at the term. The man had to have guts and be as tough as nails to give Sakura a nickname like that and still be breathing.

His thoughts were cut short as Sakura cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. "Hey pig! Get out here! I brought you a present!"

Ino stormed out of the shop and onto the street. "What are you yelling about forehead!?" she snapped before her eyes landed on Sai. Color quickly splashed across her face and she quickly dusted the dirt off of her apron and flipped her long blonde hair. "Oh, hello Sai." She said batting her eyelashes at the painter.

"Hello beautiful." He replied looking down at the ground and scratching at the corner of his mouth nervously.

Sauske's eyes widened. Ino had been one of his biggest fans growing up. Now she clearly had a thing for his 'replacement'. Part of him was relieved, while the other part of him was irritated. Just how much had changed while he'd been gone?

"Oh you're here too Sauske?" she said smiling at him.

He shook the brief temptation to pout. For the first time in his life, Ino was greeting him as an afterthought at he really wasn't sure what to think of that.

"Yes." He replied quickly. "How are you?"

"Good! The flower shop is doing well. How are your travels?"

"Good." He replied quickly.

She nodded and then quickly turned her attention back to Sai who was looking at a bunch of lilies. Ino moved closer to him and trailed a finger up his pale arm. "See something you like?" she asked her voice low.

Sai's face colored even more his cheeks bright red in contrast to his white skin. He swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes. I think I'll paint these." He replied quickly.

"I know something that would be much more interesting to paint than these." Ino said with a wink which only made the poor boy blush even brighter.

"Alrighty then!" Sakura exclaimed. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go puke now." She said walking away from the shop. "Have fun pig!" she called out with a wave.

"You too billboard brow!" Ino replied pulling Sai by the arm into the shop. "You better seal the deal with time!" she called after them.

Sauske's brow wrinkled in confusion and he glanced at his companion. What could Ino possibly mean by that? Sakura's face was bright red and a mixture of shock and anger which confused him further.

"I swear, I'm going to punch her and that big mouth of hers out of town one of these days." She snarled under her breath before she glanced up at him. "Ignore what she just said. She's just being obnoxious because she got a boyfriend before I did." She muttered.

"I see." He replied "How do you feel about it then?" he asked.

"Her and Sai?" she clarified. He nodded and she shrugged. "She can have him. They balance each other out pretty well actually. His stone coldness compliments her totally cattiness."

Sauske snorted. "So I take it you didn't get along with him initially just like Naruto?"

She tilted her head a little at his comment probably confused about when he'd learned that Naruto and Sai didn't get along at first but brushed it off and nodded. "Yeah. The first day we met, he called me ugly and the second day, I punched him in the face."

Sauske snorted imagining the scene in his mind. "I see. What did he do to warrant that?"

She looked down at the ground. "Well, he was picking on Naruto which was irritating enough on its own, but then…" she paused and then looked up at him. "Then he insulted you and… I don't know, I just got so angry. He didn't know anything about you except for that you'd left the village and joined Orochimaru but he kept talking like he knew everything about you when he didn't have a clue about what had really happened. I could tell that Naruto was about to lose it so I stopped him knowing that their relationship was already rocky enough as it was. I gave him one of my sweetest fake smiles and when he returned it like nothing had happened, like he didn't give a damn about how the rest of us felt, I let him have it."

Sauske's eyes widened and two feelings tangled around inside of him. Elation that he had come to his defense and sadness that he'd put her in that situation. "What happened after that?" he asked.

"Captain Yamato made a giant wooden cage with his wood style jutsu and threatened to throw the three of us in it if we didn't knock it off." She replied in a matter of fact tone.

His eyes widened. "Wow. That's aggressive." He replied trying to picture it in his mind. "He didn't actually do it, did he?"

"No. He took us to a hot spring instead and treated us to a feast afterwards. That smoothed things over pretty well. You know how Naruto is with food after all." She replied with a smile as she walked up to one of the vegetable stands. She scanned over the fresh produce and Sauske's eyes immediately focused on the red fruit in the middle. A few moments later, Sakura held a bag filled with fresh vegetables and he was surprised when she held out a tomato to him.

"Here." She said as she slipped it into his palm. "You still like these, right?"

He nodded as he took the fruit from her. "I'm surprised you remember." He admitted.

She smiled at him. "I remember pretty much everything when it comes to you." She replied.

He felt his heart stumble in his chest at her words and it pounded even harder when she blushed at her own words.

"Anyway!" she exclaimed trying to cover up her embarrassment. "I need to stop by an herb shop to stock up on medicinal herbs for my own private supply. Do you mind?"

He shook his head no and she breathed a little sigh of relief as they approached the small shop. He followed her inside and he glanced around wrinkling his nose a little at the mix of scents. Bundles of dried plants sat in boxes upon boxes and even larger bundles hung from the ceiling. He walked forward and fingered a dried stalk of lavender before setting it down and moving through the store. In all honesty, he couldn't make heads or tails of the plants strewn about the store and his attention was drawn to Sakura who moved quickly and efficiently across the store muttering to herself as she tossed bundles into her basket.

"You might want to stock up on eucalyptus oil." She said to the clerk as she carried her basket towards the cashiers table to pay. "With that new illness going around, it really helps to break up the congestion and I've sent patients home with instructions to use it in their follow up care."

"Thank you very much Lady Sakura." The owner, an older woman replied with a bow. "Your patronage here is truly a blessing from the Gods."

Sakura shook her head. "On no. Your garden is a blessing from the Gods. You have the best quality medicinal herbs in the village. A master is only as good as his instruments after all." She replied. "I'll be back again!" she called waving behind her. "Sorry that took so long. Are you ready to go?" she asked him.

Sauske nodded and glanced at the two bags she was carrying. He knew that there was no way she'd let him carry both, that just wasn't the kind of woman she was but, he could probably get away with taking one. Moving with inhuman speed, he reached out and grabbed the bag of vegetables from her hands smirking at the look of surprise on her face.

"What are you doing?" she asked as they walked out of the store. "I can carry that."

"Yes you can." He replied simply. She reached for the bag and he quickly tugged it out of her reach. "But so can I." She lunged at it again and he lifted it above his head smirking when she still tried to swipe at it.

"Give it back!" she demanded her eyes narrowing.

"How old are you?" he asked chuckling when her face turned red and she backed away.

"Fine! Carry it if you want!" she snapped.

"Gladly." He replied lowering it down to his side again.

"If there's nothing you need, we can probably head back to my place." She said.

He nodded in agreement and the pair made their way back down the busy street towards Sakura's little apartment. To his great relief, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. They relaxed a little at her home and he was impressed by her large collection of books. Reading was a luxury he hadn't been able to afford over the past five or so years of his life due to his insane lifestyle and he was happy to dive in again. As he read, Sakura had busied herself in the kitchen putting something that smelled fantastic compared to the food he'd eaten while traveling into the oven before she moved to her desk in the living room and carefully recorded all of the herbs she collected and their quantities before sowing them away in stackable medicine boxes.

"You're quite organized." He remarked as he moved closer reading her notes over her shoulders. "You have everything recorded down to the gram."

She nodded. "I have to be. Being off by much more than that can be a catastrophe when making medicine." She opened a bottle and sniffed it lightly. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, raked her hair through her hair and sighed. "Darn it! That tea tree oil was harvested near the end of the rainy season which means the concentration of its medicinal components is off." She muttered making some adjustments to the notes recorded.

Sauske's eyes widened. "You can tell that just by smelling it?"

She nodded. "It's a very important skill to have but not one that can be learned by studying a book. People often times overlook their sense of smell but for a medical ninja, it's one of our most important senses. Poisons, toxins, even certain kind of infections can be identified by smell. It's also the fastest way to check liquid medicines." She explained as she closed the book and slipped it into the drawer of her desk. The timer on top of the oven went off and she quickly stood and strode towards the kitchen her arm brushing his as she did so. If he didn't know any better, he would've sworn that lightning went through his body at her touch. Since when did she have this kind of effect on him? He wondered as she squatted in front of the oven and pulled out the meat roasting there.

"Done." She said with satisfaction as she pulled the dish from the rack and laid it on the hot pot holding on the kitchen counter. "Sauske! Dinner is ready." She called out brightly. He nodded and moved into the kitchen as she dished up the meal. He sat down at her little table and noticed a plate with sliced tomatoes near the middle and snatched one popping it into his mouth and savoring its sweetness. He wasn't a fan of sweets and sugar but tomatoes were just the right mix of sweet and sour for him. Sakura set down a plate in front of him and he nodded in thanks as she sat down across from him. "Eat as much as you like." She encouraged him as she started into her own plate.

He nodded and began to eat once again thankful he was eating better than he did on the road. After they both finished, she picked up their plates and moved to the sink to begin washing them. As he watched her, something stirred inside of him as she worked with her back to him her shoulder length hair swaying with the movement of her body. He stood and moved towards her and reached out lightly lifting a lock of hair feeling it's smoothness against his finger and studying the contrast of the pink against his own pale skin. His mind went back several years to the chunin exams when Sakura had been left alone to defend her teammates against the sound ninjas. He remembered waking up with darkness pulsing through his veins and immediately noticed that the waist length hair that she'd been so proud of scattered on the forest floor. His eyes had focused on her body then his vision enhanced with the sharringan and recorded every bruise, every scratch, and every gash on her body. Rage had overtaken him then. His frustration at not being able to protect someone else close to him and his need to make that person suffer clouded all of his senses as he spoke her name. "Sakura. Who did this to you?" he'd demanded blind to the fear in her eyes. He'd made the one responsible pay dearly for his crimes against his teammate and just when he was about to finish the job, she'd run to him, wrapped her arms around him and pleaded with him to stop. He'd seen it then, the fear in her eyes. Not fear of him but fear of what he was doing. He'd lost himself and she'd pulled him back in that annoying way of hers with those damn tears that always made him feel things he didn't want to. Looking back, he realized that those tears were the very reason he'd left her behind. The selfish part of him the desired only power and revenge wouldn't be able to flourish with her by his side and he knew it. Her light would always appear to drive away the darkness he wanted so badly, it had been so annoying to him then. Now he realized that in her own way, she'd been protecting him even more so than he'd ever protected her.

"Sauske?" her voice startled him and he blinked when he realized that he'd unconsciously moved closer to her while his thoughts had ran wild and he was now only millimeters away from being pressed up against her back her hair still in his hands. "Is something wrong?"

"No." he said stepping back and letting the hair slip from his fingers. "I was just lost in thought."

"Want to talk about it?" she asked as she dried her hands on a towel and moved towards the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of iced coffee.

He shrugged and studied her as she opened the bottle and lifted it to her lips drinking deeply from the glass container. A little drop of the brown liquid slipped from the corner of her lip and he watched the trail it made down towards her chin. A sudden desire gripped him then and in that moment, he wanted to follow that same path with his tongue right up to her lips that were now parted as she pulled the glass away.

"What?" she asked once again shaking him from his little daydream.

"Nothing." He stammered cursing his voice for being so shaky. "I just didn't know you drank coffee." He said trying to regain his composure.

"Oh." She replied capping the bottle and replacing it in the fridge. "I guess I started drinking it after you left. Lady Tsunade is a great teacher but she's anything but soft on her students. She ran me into the ground the first couple of months and I figured out pretty quickly that tea just wasn't going to cut it as far as giving me the energy I needed." She said as she moved to her living room.

"Why did you go that far?" he asked as she knelt in front of her book shelf her fingers brushing over the thick volumes of medical journals.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she selected one and moved to sit on the couch but didn't open it focusing her eyes on him instead as he sat down as well settling into the corner opposite hers.

"Why did you train under Lady Tsunade instead of Shizune or someone else?" he clarified.

Sakura put the book down on the coffee table and her eyes drifted upwards as she braced her hands on the table and rested her head in her hands. "For a very long time I felt like a complete failure." She said softly. "I was a genin but I was completely useless. I was always relying on everyone else to protect me. Whenever there was a fight I was always the one standing in the back watching from a safe distance while everyone else shed blood." She bent her head. "In the end I couldn't even protect myself let alone the ones that mattered most to myself. I was so weak, I couldn't even keep the person I claimed to love so much from leaving." She sighed. "After that, I kind of went into a dark place, hating myself more and more each day. Blaming myself for being such a weak person, believing I wasn't worthy to be a part of the team. Naruto left the village soon after you did to train and I was left alone rotting in my self-pity. Kakashi noticed and introduced me to Lady Tsunade and suggested I train under her. I saw how strong she both on and off the battlefield and liked how she didn't take crap from anyone no matter how much stronger they were than her. I just wanted to be like her, I wanted to be strong enough to stand beside Naruto and help him bring you back instead of just being a burden." She turned away from him and her voice quieted so much he had to strain to hear it. "I wanted to be strong enough to stand by your side when you finally came back to the village."

His eyes widened. Sakura had always been so confident and headstrong when they were younger and even now. The thought of her being consumed by self-loathing boggled his mind. He made a mental note to ask Kakashi about the 'dark place' she'd mentioned before as he studied her. Her posture told him everything he wanted to know, she still felt inferior to him and Naruto. She was part of the legendary three shinobi who had been the deciding force that turned the war in their favor and she still doubted herself. He chewed on his lip as he recognized that he was responsible for at least part of that doubt. How often had she reached out to him offering him everything? How many times did he push her away and throw her weakness in her face? It was only natural that she'd doubt herself after what he'd put her through.

"Sorry." He said softly.

"For what?" she replied looking at him.

"Everything." He replied.

"You've already apologized for that." She reminded him with a little smile. "And I've already forgiven you."

He internally screamed at himself as he saw the sincerity in her eyes. She'd forgiven him for everything, he was sure of it. He wanted to make it up to her somehow. Wouldn't that be part of his redemption? Giving back to the woman he'd probably made suffer the most? What could he possibly do for her now? He wanted to make her happy. She deserved it after all of the pain he'd put her through. He also knew that she loved him still and that nothing would make her happier than him reciprocating those feelings. Part of him wanted to desperately. To shower her with affection and love and wash away all of the wounds in her heart. He'd been the one to make them after all. However that same road would lead to his happiness, something he knew he didn't deserve. The emotions clashed within him and he wanted to scream in frustration.

"So," Sakura said seeming to sense his darkening mood. "Did I ever tell you about the time that Naruto and I were pulled into another world? It seemed just like this one but it was so different at the same time."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, it was crazy. Tobi did it to us. It was crazy! Kiba hated dogs, Ino was sweet and Hinata was insane! She nearly killed me for looking at Naruto and you…" she shook her head. "You were a total playboy. Your fangirls would've loved it."

He blinked at the thought. He couldn't imagine it. Him a play boy? Kiba hating dogs?

She smiled. "It was so weird. Itachi actually saved me while we were there."

His late brother's name caught his attention. "Itachi?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I was kidnapped by Naruto's doppelganger and he rescued me. Literally swept me up into his arms and carried me to safety."

He tilted his head to the side at her words. He briefly wondered how she and Itacahi would really get along if his older brother had survived. He listened to her story and found it fascinating as she explained the events that unfolded. He had to admit that he'd nearly choked on the tea he was drinking when she told him about how Lee snuck into the bathhouse and stole Tenten's underwear. His face fell a little as she explained how he acted in the alternate world. Even in that place he'd made her sad. When she finished, it was close to dusk and she glanced at the clock stifling a yawn.

"Oh dear. I'm tired." She muttered. "I better head to bed soon since I'm supposed to help with Kiba's squad tomorrow."

"Right." He replied. He wasn't thrilled at the idea of her spending time with the dog trainer, but he could use the opportunity to talk with Kakashi before joining her, Naruto and Sai for training.

"Good night Sauske." She said flashing him a brilliant smile before she vanished into her bedroom.

He laid down on the futon she'd laid out for him and stared up at the ceiling. These feelings of his were overwhelming. He didn't know what to do with them. It was foreign for him to not know what to do in the face of adversity. It occurred to him that it was his total lack of experience in the realm of feelings and emotions. For years he'd been quick to toss his feelings aside, to bury them deep so that they couldn't surface and distract him from his goals. Now he was paying for it. Eventually he drifted to sleep with his thoughts and feelings still in chaos as he thought about the woman sleeping a wall away from him.

"Sauske, I love you. I always have, always will." Sakura said standing before him dressed in red and white her hair ruffled by the gentle breeze blowing past. Sauske stared at her allowing himself to be totally consumed by the moment, something unheard of for him. He'd denied his feelings for her long enough. He stepped forward and reached out to her tapping her on the forehead with his fingertips before he trailed his fingers down the side of her face and tipped her face up towards his. He heard her breath catch in her throat, saw the blush feather across her cheeks and felt her pulse race. All of her reactions thrilled him, spurred him forward. Only he made her feel this way, he was certain of it just like she was the only one that made him feel this way. He lowered his mouth towards hers, his eyes never leaving her face as her eyes closed and her lips parted in anticipation. He closed his own eyes just before their lips met and then gasped as he felt something hot, and wet in his hand and Sakura's grunt of pain. His eyes flew open and he gapped in horror at the sight of his own hand clutching the heart of the woman in front of him his arm buried to the elbow in her chest as blood seeped through his clothes and dripped down to the ground below.

"Why?" Sakura gasped her green eyes dulling with each passing second. "Why Sauske? All I ever did was love you."

"No! It can't be!" he exclaimed as he pulled his arm back and gripped her shoulder. "I would never-"

"But you did." A familiar voice spoke from behind him. He turned and found himself face to face with a darker version of himself, one he recognized from the time that Orochimaru place the curse mark on him. The doppelganger grinned at the look of horror on his face. "Don't you remember?" the dark one said tilting his head to the side. "I know I do. The look of shock on her face was fantastic. Too bad Kakashi got in our way."

"Shut up!" he shouted at the darker version of himself. "I… I was so lost… I…"

"Excuses!" the dark one shouted back. "You wanted to rid the world of its light and drag it into the darkness that consumed you, but that annoying little girl was a spec of light in your black hole of an existence so you wanted to destroy her."

"I said shut up!" he snarled clutching at his head. "Get out of my head!"

"I'm not going anywhere." The dark one replied. "I am a part of you after all." He said in a matter of fact tone. "Who are you to think that you can make her happy when you're the source of her pain? All of the tears she shed for you, all of the blood she bled for you…"

"Stop it!" he snarled. "I said get out!"

The dark man chuckled. "Fine, whatever you say. It doesn't change the fact that her blood is still on your hands." He said as he faded away.

Sauske pulled his hands from his head and stared at them his hands trembling as he saw the blood there staining his skin. He sat up and stumbled to the kitchen sink and turned the tap letting the water flow. He went to work scrubbing his hands the faces of his victims flying through his head as he worked. He'd killed his brother, the brother that loved and protected him. He'd attempted to kill Kakashi, his sensei, the one who taught him the shinobi way that he'd lost sight of as he chased his vendetta blindly. His best friend Naruto he'd nearly killed twice when all he'd been doing was try to save him from himself. Sakura, the girl who had never stopped loving him in spite of all of the pain and suffering he caused her and everyone around him. What had he done? How could he ever rid himself of the blood on his hands?

"Sauske! Sauske stop it!" a voice cried cutting through the madness. He blinked and found himself up against the wall, small but strong arms on his shoulders and green eyes shimmering with moisture staring up at him.

"What?" he asked confused at her pained expression.

"Your hands." She murmured.

He looked down at his hands and was surprised to see that they were both bright red and raw blood seeping from a few places.

"Sauske, what's wrong?" Sakura asked her eyes reflecting concern, worry, and love back at him. The vision of his hand through her chest and the feel of her blood came flooding back to him and he immediately felt ill.

"It's fine." He replied quickly turning away. "Don't worry about it."

"It's not fine!" she protested taking one of his hands in her own. "You were hurting yourself!" she said as her hands glowed green soothing the stinging sensation and repairing the damaged skin.

"I said it's fine so stop!" he snarled yanking his hands from her grip and stepping away from him. "You're so annoying!" he regretted the words the moment they left his mouth as her eyes widened the tears welling there spilled and her mouth closed even as her body trembled. He cursed himself again for making her cry and balled his sore hands into fists before he took a step towards her and reached out hating himself even more when she shied away from his hand. His fingers tensed and then continued forward as he laid his hand on the top of her head. "Please don't look at me like that." He murmured. "I'm sorry. These demons of mine are my own. There's no reason for you to know about them."

"Will you knock it off!?" she snapped through her tears surprising him when she threw herself against his chest her hands balling into fists. "You're always like this! Shutting everyone else out! Carrying your burdens alone! Suffering alone!" she slammed her fists against his chest knocking him back a step as her tears continued to flow. "Please! Share your burdens with me! Let me in!" she fisted her hands in his shirt and buried her head in his chest. "I'm begging you." She whimpered. "I carry them already, I just don't know what they are. I hate seeing you suffer like this. Please…"

He stood frozen as her body trembled against his. He didn't know what to say, or what to feel. Part of him was so desperate to reach out to her and let her in but he knew that she deserved much more than he could offer. "Sakura." He said softly. "I… I don't deserve to be happy after everything I've done, I don't deserve your love."

He yelped as she suddenly moved slamming them both to the floor. He winced and hissed as stars exploded before his eyes. "Sakura!"

"Shut up!" she snapped. "What kind of ridiculous thinking is that?!" she demanded pinning his arms down with her own and straddling his chest. He tried to move but couldn't. Curse her monster strength. "Do you really think that Naruto and I went through all of those years of hell just so that you could torture yourself for the rest of your life?! We did it because we wanted you to be safe and happy damn it! Are you going to throw away all of our years of hard work away just like that?!"

He blinked in surprise at her words and the fierceness in her eyes and voice despite the tears that still continued to flow.

"If you want to make up for what you did in the past then go ahead, but stop thinking you don't deserve happiness! And who I love is up to me and me alone. It doesn't matter if you think you deserve it or not got it?" she snapped.

He opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again when he saw the dangerous glint in her eyes. Instead he just sighed and then held out his hands to her. She shifted off of him and took them in her own and held them as green light flowed from her hands into his own soothing the pain in his hands. When she was satisfied with her work, she stood and offered him her hand pulling him to his feet. "Sauske-" She began but he held up a hand to quiet her.

"Thank you." He said softly he took her hand in his and held it gently. "I need some time to get my thoughts together but, when I'm ready to talk will you listen?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Of course." She replied. "Do you want a sleep aid? It might help."

He shook his head. "No I'll be fine." He reached forward and tapped her lightly on the forehead. "Goodnight Sakura. I'll see you in the morning."

She nodded and walked into the bedroom leaving him behind. He walked to the window and looked up at the stars winking in the darkness. His thoughts drifted between the pink haired woman with him and the dark haired man that had left him. He lifted his hand and tapped himself in the forehead as he thought. "Itachi." he murmured. "What should I do? Is ok for me to act on these feelings of mine for Sakura?"

Only the silence answered him and he sighed turning away from the stars and laid back down. He glanced at the clock and cursed when he saw that it was three in the morning. It was going to be a very long night.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's notes:

I wanted to thank everyone who's been reading and following this story. This is my first attempt at fanfiction and I know I bit off a lot by choosing this couple that a lot of people have strong feelings about. I wanted to apologize for spelling Sasuke's name wrong. I didn't even notice until someone pointed out. Also the first version of chapter 2 I posted was the non-edited version. Nothing major was changed plot wise but if you want, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to go back and check to see if you've read the right version. Please be patient with me while I figure out this website's formatting and my own writing style. Grammar is not my strong suit either, which is one of the reason's I'm here working to improve my writing. Anyway, let's get back to the story!

Sasuke was awoken short hours later by the sound of water running and soft, morning light spilling across the living room where he was sleeping. He sighed and sat up raking his hand through his ebony locks as he tried to make sense of everything that had happened the night before. That nightmare had been one of the worst ones he'd had since the end of the war. Even now the lingering tendrils of it in his mind had him trembling. Irritated that his own mind could cause him to act so weak he stood up and stalked over to the kitchen sink grabbing a glass and filling it with cold water. He downed it letting the coolness help to blow away the last cobwebs of sleepiness from his consciousness. He set the glass down on the counter and then noticed a series of envelopes sitting in the entry way. Curious, he walked over and picked them up studying each one. The first one was plain white and said "To Sakura From Kiba" on the front. It was probably the details about the demonstration and most likely harmless so he tossed it onto the table and shifted his attention to the rest of the pile.

The second one was in a pink envelope and had hand drawn cherries drawn all over it. It was addressed to Sakura from "her biggest fan" and he snorted. It was probably from a member of the 'fan club' Naruto had mentioned. He was willing to bet money that this one had picked the pink envelope because it matched the color of her hair. Moving on, he fingered a blue envelope and frowned, it smelled heavily of cologne and the greeting on the front was one that screamed overconfidence. "To Sakura from your future lover". His hand twitched and it took every ounce of willpower if possessed not to turn the stinking envelope and its contents to ash with his fire jutsu. He shoved it to the back of group too but made a note to find it again later and find out who the sender was. Once he found that out, he was going to pay the man a visit and teach him a lesson about respecting women, particularly this one.

The last letter was different all together. The handwriting scrawled across it was angry and rough. Nearly tearing the envelope in some places. Its greeting was just as angry. "Traitor" was scrawled across it in large lettering and it made his skin prickle in an uncomfortable way. Having been among people of the darkest nature for much of his life, he knew the cycle of violence better than just about anyone. The person who had written on this envelope seemed to be on that path and Sakura was one of their targets. It made him extremely uneasy and he warred with the part of himself that wanted to respect her privacy and the part that demanded to know what was in the letter so that he could protect her from whomever had written it.

"Hey. I'm sorry if I woke you." Sakura said as she entered the main living space wrapped in a white robe water still dripping from her blush colored locks. "Is anything wrong?" she asked her brow furrowing at what Sasuke assumed was the dark expression on his face.

He tossed the rest of the envelopes onto the kitchen table and gestured to them with his hand clearly expressing that they were the source of his bad attitude.

She blinked and walked forward groaning as she recognized what they were. "Darn it all! I keep telling them to send letters through the official mail service." She muttered stalking forward. Her hand went first to the letter from Kiba and she smiled as her eyes scanned over the piece of paper. "He wants me there at nine am. Perfect! That gives me plenty of time to go over all of the basics in addition to some combat practice." She said putting the letter down.

Sasuke let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Of all of the letters there, Kiba's was the least threatening but that hadn't keep him from being worried.

She sat down at the table and her hand moved to the second envelope that was pink and covered in hand drawn cherries. A little smile touched her lips as she opened it and it widened as her eyes moved across the page. Sasuke felt his heart pound in his chest and a terrible feeling slithered through his veins like a snake. He felt anxious because she was smiling and blushing at words that were written by some other man. Could her heart have changed over the past year? He didn't think so after what had happened last night but perhaps her love had shifted to one of a sister towards a brother? The thought made his heart drop in a way he didn't like at all and he found himself sitting down across the table from her trying desperately to keep his panic from showing on his face.

"Who is that one from?" he asked struggling to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

She looked up from the letter and smiled as she carefully folded it up and slipping it back into its envelope. "It's from Haku." She said tracing her fingers over the envelope her eyes filled with warmth. It only made the awful feeling in the pit of Sasuke's stomach worse as he struggled to keep himself from prying further. Thankfully, she answered his unspoken question for him. "When the leaf village was destroyed by Pain, it took a long time for us to locate and treat all of the wounded. Haku was only five years old at the time when Naruto and I stumbled upon him hiding in a pile of rubble. We tried to pull him out but he fought us in spite of his terrible injuries saying that he couldn't leave someone behind. We pulled him to safety and found his infant brother completely unscathed. Neither of us could believe it and we brought them to camp and started treating their injuries. He was such a trooper. He lost his left leg but he never let it slow him down." She smiled at the letter again. "He said that he wants to be like me when he gets older because I was able to put him back together again." She giggled. "He said to me, 'Anyone can break something but only someone special can put it back together again.'"

Sasuke felt weight lift from his shoulders at the revelation and his heart swelled with pride towards his friend and teammate. She had touched so many lives for good using her gifts and it amazed him more and more as he heard the stories.

Her hand then shifted to the blue envelope and she wrinkled her nose at the strong stench of cologne that wafted off of it. "Good Kami!" she hissed promptly picking up the offending paper and tossing it into the garbage can. "Get a clue!"

"Who is that one from?" he asked. "It stinks."

She nodded. "It's from some guy named Renji. I healed him once after the destruction of the village and he somehow got the idea that I like him because I examined him from the waist down."

Sasuke's fist clenched at the thought and then loosened. She was a medical ninja, things like that were just part of her work. He was sure she'd probably seen most of the ninja both male and female in the village naked or close to it while treating their wounds. Hearing about it though was something he didn't like.

She sighed. "I had to! The idiot had given himself a hernia trying to act like a big shot. He's the spoiled son of a merchant family and he honestly thought he could lift as much lumber as Rock Lee. What and idiot! I mean, Lee is impossibly strong already and you know how serious he is about everything he does. Gui sensei could barely keep up with him! Anyway, he got the wrong idea and has been trying to go out with me ever since."

"I see." Sasuke said relaxing. He still didn't like this Renji character, and was determined to find out who he was, but he'd decided to spare his life. For now at least. Sakura could almost match Lee in terms of strength when she was serious so this boy was no threat to her. He turned his thoughts and attention back to her and studied her very closely as she moved to the last envelope. Her brow furrowed slightly and she frowned indicating to him that this one, was the first of its kind. She opened it carefully and her eyes shifted as she read over the angry scrawl. He watched her eyes and the emotions in them carefully. They went from confused, to irritated, to hurt, and finally anger.

"What is this?" she hissed. "Nosy hag and her nasty excuse for a son!"

"What's wrong Sakura?" he asked forcing his face to be impassive even as his tension level rose.

She crumpled up the paper and tossed it away before slamming her fists onto the table leaving two indents in the wood.

"People can be so stupid!" she snarled. "My next door neighbor is an older woman who was a big supporter of Donzo's back before everyone found out what a slime ball he really was. She's never liked me because of how close I am to Lady Tsunade, Naruto, and you. Her son moved in with her a few months after I moved here because he wanted to protect her from my 'dangerous' allies but I wasn't stupid. I saw how he looked at me. He's the reason I don't air dry my clothes anymore." She balled her hands into fists again and she glared at the wall separating her apartment from the writers of the angry letters. "They've noticed that you're staying here with me and now she's threatening to report me to the apartment managers for giving shelter to a murderous psychopath." She snorted. "If she wants to talk about a psychopath she should take a good look at the man living in her own apartment. I'm not the only one whos underclothes mysteriously vanished after he moved in."

Sasuke's jaw tightened as he too glared at the wall separating them from their apparent assailants. That man was likely the reason she'd instinctively grabbed a kunai when he showered his first day back. A little pang of guilt stabbed him as he realized that he was the cause for their outburst. He opened his mouth to apologize but shut it when he found a small but powerful fist inches from his face.

"If you apologize for being here I'll knock you out. I invited you here." She snarled. "Besides, it's not like this is the first time she's threatened to do this. She sends me the same stupid letter whenever Naruto visits claiming that I'm endangering the complex by having a monster in my apartment willingly." She hissed and stalked to her bedroom. "I swear if that woman didn't have osteoporosis I would've punched her in the face by now. I'm going to get dressed then I'll make us some breakfast ok? You can go ahead and use the shower." She said as she disappeared into her room closing the door firmly behind her.

He sighed and decided that a shower would do him some good and pulled a change of clothes from his bag and retreated to the bedroom. He turned on the tap and sighed as the cool water splashed onto his face helping to clear his mind and body of tension. He braced his forearms on the cool tile in front of him and bowed his head as he fought for calm. There was no reason to kill the people living next door the Sakura. The woman sounded like a bitter old hag, and the man seemed to be just a run of the mill pervert who probably deserved a black eye, a broken rib or three and maybe a snapped femur for touching Sakura's clothes but not death. The faint sound of tile scraping against tile and paper rustling caught his attention and he straightened up. He focused his senses on the kitchen and heard Sakura humming to herself a tune that he didn't recognize and the distinct sound of eggs dropping into heat and sizzling accompanied by the smell of cooking. There was no way that sound was related to her. Very carefully, he stepped out of the rushing water and onto the bath mat, leaving the water running as he wrapped a towel around his waist. He closed his eyes and focused on the direction where the noise seemed to originate from and then opened them again revealing blood red irises taking in every detail of the small bathroom and looking for anything out of the ordinary. His brow furrowed a little as he saw nothing out of place and then sighed wondering if he was just being paranoid. He moved his hands back to the towel at his waist and was about to remove it and step back into the water when he saw a flicker of movement just to the right of the shower. He moved towards in the blink of an eye and focused on the spot. It was a small hole, no bigger than the size of a dime near the seam where the tile of the shower started and the thin wall of the bathroom began. He squatted down and closed one eye peering into the hole and found it extended through the entire wall revealing a much dirtier bathroom. His heart began to pound and he took a deep breath trying to contain the murderous rage seeping into his blood. The building was old, holes like these were bound to happen especially in this venerable spot where water and steam were able to wear away the integrity of the wall. Relax. He told himself. Closing his eye for a moment, he opened it again when he felt calmness coming back to him and then as abruptly as he found his peace, he lost it again as he found a beady grey eye looking back at him. He flew back away from the wall as his anger ignited. He'd changed his mind. The pervert on the other side was going to die a horribly painful death by his own hand. His hand balled into a fist blue lightning crackling around it as he contemplated burning the fool alive or slicing him into ribbons with his sword.

The bathroom door suddenly swung open and he whirled around his hand raised as his lips curled over is teeth in a terrifying display of anger that had frozen men in their tracks with fear before. However the one that burst through the door was a woman and a fearless one at that.

"Sasuke! What's wrong? I felt your chakra flare." She asked dressed now in a red shirt, a pair of black shorts and a pink skirt.

The concern on her face was like a drizzle of rain on the flames of murderous intent raging inside of him and he immediately unclenched his hand letting the lightning retract back into the core of his being. He moved quickly pushing her out of the bathroom and slamming the door closed behind them pressing a finger to her lips in a clear signal to stay quiet for a moment. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing and rested his hands on her shoulders taking comfort in her presence. At least here, that pervert couldn't see or touch her.

"Sasuke?" she asked again.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again the redness replaced with black once again. He shook his head. "Let's hurry up and get going." He said not trusting himself to stay in the apartment much longer. "I'll explain everything later." He said dropping his hands from her shoulders and moving into the living room. He grabbed a second set of clothes and sighed. They were old and something he didn't care to wear anymore but if he went back into that bathroom to retrieve his other clothes, he'd probably walk out with the head of a creeper in his hands and that probably wouldn't sit well with Sakura. "Can I change in your room?" he asked as it occurred to him that he was wearing only a towel.

"Sure. Go ahead." She replied blushing.

He smirked at her reaction to his body and carried the clothes into her room and quickly slipped into them. Realizing that he'd never been in this room for an extended amount of time, he glanced around noting the simple design. A framed painting of her, Naruto, Sai and Captain Yamato caught his attention and he moved closer to it. In the picture, she was standing under a tree, a gloved hand resting on her hip which was popped out, a playful smirk on her lips. Naruto had his arms crossed over his chest grinning from ear to ear leaning slightly towards the pink haired medical ninja. Sai stood next to Naruto his face blank and his arms at his side. Yamato stood behind the four of them his eyes cast down towards them a tired smile tugging at his lips. He glanced at the signature at the bottom and learned that it was Sai's work. He reached out and touched the face of the pink haired girl with his fingertips. A little sigh of regret escaped his lips. This was likely painted around the same time they'd encountered one another for the first time after he'd left with Orochimaru. He'd never seen that particular expression on her face in person. He wanted to. Maybe if he was lucky he'd get to see it soon. He shook his head and then touched the framed picture of the original team seven on her bedside table before leaving the room.

"There you are." Sakura said cheerfully as she turned towards him. She blinked in surprise at what he was wearing and then snickered. "So you do have other colored shirts beside black." She giggled as she set two plates down on the table.

He groaned and moved to the table sitting down without a word. He was wearing a white shirt similar to the ones he wore when he was with the snake sannin though it wasn't nearly as open in the front. His black pants were thankfully in his normal style and he'd wrapped his ankles and part of his calf with white bandageslike he normally did. It definitely wasn't his outfit of choice but it was better than nothing. He ate much faster than normal desperate to get out of the apartment and was surprised when Sakura finished nearly as quickly as he did. As soon as they got onto the street he breathed a sigh of relief. He was still filled with murderous intent but at least the distance would make the urges a little harder to follow.

"So what are you going to do while I'm with Kiba?" she asked him cheerfully as they walked towards the training grounds. He knew she was trying to lighten his mood but it wasn't going to work, at least not while the pervert was alive and well.

"I need to go deliver my report to Kakashi. I'll probably run into Naruto there which means we'll probably be back here before the ten thirty mark. You know that idiot. He's been itching to have a go at me since I got back to town." He said as they arrived at the chain-link fence marking the beginning of the training grounds.

She giggled and he smirked in spite of his dark mood. He'd made her laugh. That knowledge made him feel warm in a way he couldn't quite explain but he liked it. "You're absolutely right." She said flashing him a brilliant smile. "I'll see you in just over an hour then." She said as she began pulling things out of her pouch laying them out on a square of fabric she'd brought setting up for her demonstration of medical ninjutsu.

"Yeah." He replied. "See you later." Confident that she was safe and sound he turned back towards the village. He walked quickly through the buildings his dark mood still hovering around him as he brooded over the creep and hag next door to Sakura as well as his desire to know more about the dark time she'd spoken of yesterday. Most people caught onto his mood or were just wary of him in general and gave him all the space he wanted as he moved quickly through the streets. As usual though, there was one species that were either clueless to his mood or just didn't care. The fangirls.

"Sasuke!" he heard a shrill voice call out. He didn't even bother to turn to see who it was. It was the blonde from the day before and he didn't have the patience for her or her giggly friends at the moment. He focused on his goal, the Hokage's office building and walked faster even as footsteps followed him trying to catch up. "Sasuke! Wait up!" she cried again a whiny tone slipping into her voice. A shudder ran down his spine at the sound. Karin had used it constantly and it was up there with nails scraping against a chalkboard on the scale of noises that made him want to rip his own ears off. "I said wait!" the blonde demanded grabbing his sleeve.

He whirled on the girl his eyes blazing, his patience hanging on by a thread. Under normal circumstances he didn't like to touch or be touched by anyone except for a very small number of people which included his late brother, his best friend Naruto, his sensei, now Hokage Kakashi, and his pink haired teammate Sakura. This girl was none of them and he was clearly distressed. Who did this girl think she was touching him like that without permission? Even ditsy Karin had been smart enough to keep her hands off when he was in a mood this dark. He roughly pushed her hand away his eyes flashing ruby red for second at her surprised expression. "Don't ever touch me again." He snarled. The blonde took a step back and her two friend from the day before ran up to her looks of shock on their faces.

"Sauske…" the blonde whined.

"Get lost!" he hissed. Turning around and stalking towards the office building irritation rolling off of him in waves that were nearly tangible as he navigated the streets. Deciding that he'd scared enough people with his rotten mood and desperate to get away from the irritating sound of a heartbroken fangirl sobbing like an idiot in the middle of the street he leapt onto the nearest roof top. With practiced precision and natural talent he dashed across town and landed lithely on the roof of the Hokage's office building just outside the main office. He took a deep breath allowing the wind to ruffle his hair and then turned as he heard the window slide open.

"Hello there Sasuke." Kakashi said moving back from the window so the Uchiha could step inside. "You're starting to pick up my habit of using windows instead of doors."

Sasuke snorted at his sensei and pulled out a stack of papers from his shirt and handed them to the silver haired shinobi. "I'm not exactly in the mood to deal with anyone on the other side of that door right now." He said gesturing to the office door. "So I skipped it completely."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Rough morning?"

Sasuke nodded, "Rough night too." He muttered.

The silver haired man tilted his head and then leaned his elbows on his desk lacing his fingers together and his chin on them. "Want to talk about it?" he asked.

Sasuke glanced at his old teacher and snorted. Kakashi knew him better than almost anyone in the village. The question was just a formality, he wouldn't be in the Hokage's office at all unless he wanted to talk. He nodded and looked down at the floor trying to decide which issue to address first.

"How about we start with last night." Kakashi offered making it easier on him.

Sasuke nodded and looked at his sensei focused on the one visible eye. "Last night, Sakura and I were talking and she mentioned that she'd been in a 'dark place' before you encouraged her to train under Lady Tsunade." He said trying to articulate his thoughts in a way that would make sense. "I was wondering, if you could tell me about it."

Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly at the request. "Why do you want to know?" he asked pointedly.

Sasuke knew the question was coming but it didn't make it any easier. He balled his hand into a fist. "The night I left the village, Sakura found me and offered to come with me." He said looking at the ground. "I left her because I wanted to protect her from my demons and because I knew that if she came along with me, I wouldn't be able to… I mean I…"

"She'd keep you from becoming consumed by the darkness." Kakashi said softly.

Sasuke's eyes widened and then he bowed his head. "Yeah. Anyway, I know that what I did was selfish and shortsighted and caused everyone here nothing but grief." He looked back up at his sensei. "I said once before that I wanted to redeem myself. Make up for all of the awful things I did. Sakura… no matter what I did she never stopped loving me or caring for me. I made her suffer so much and I know that but… I need to know just how much so that I can try to make things right."

"Is that the only reason?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke blinked and looked away. "I don't know. Lately, I've been feeling differently about her and around her. It doesn't make sense to me but it makes this desire to make everything up to her stronger."

Kakashi sighed and then nodded. "Alright then." He said standing up from his chair. "I'll tell you what I can about that time."

The silver haired shinobi rushed through the trees cursing as he desperately searched for the missing chakra signature. He landed lithely on the ground catching the scent of the missing boy and walked into the nearby park. As he scanned the grounds, his eyes fell upon a small form laying on a park bench. He rushed forward calling out to the bubble gum haired girl kneeling beside her.

"Sakura! Sakura are you alright?" he asked reaching out to lift her head from the concrete bench. He took deep breath recognizing the lingering scent of the missing Uchiha on her clothes as her mint green eyes opened.

"Kakashi Sensei?" she murmured sleepily. Her eyes suddenly widened and panic radiated from her as she gripped his forest green vest in her tiny hands. "Sasuke! He's gone! He left!" she cried out as tears spilled down her cheeks. "I tried! I tried to stop him but he…." She buried her head in his chest. "I couldn't make him stay." She whimpered.

He shook his head sadly and lifted a hand patting her gently on the head. "It's alright Sakura. I know you did everything that you could." He said softly.

She tightened her grip on him and sobbed harder. "But it wasn't enough! It's never enough! I'm so useless!" she screamed her entire body shaking with the force of her sobbing.

His memory then leapt forward to when Naruto left the village with master Jiraiya and he felt something prompt him to check on his last remaining pupil in the hidden leaf. He moved through the roof tops and was surprised when he couldn't find her at home or sitting on the park bench where Sasuke had left her. Finally he found her alone in the training grounds pounding her fists into the trunk of a tree. He leapt in front of her stilling her flying fists with his hands.

"Sakura! What are you doing?" he demanded. Her hands were dripping with blood and her face was wet with tears.

"I'm training." She snarled. "Leave me alone."

"Sakura. This isn't training, this is self-harm." He replied forcing her back.

"Leave me alone!" she snapped leaping away from him.

"I can't do that." He replied leaping to catch her in midair and bringing them both to the ground. "What's this all about? Is it because Naruto left?"

She sniffed at the mention of her teammates name and curled into a ball hugging her knees to her chest. "They've all left me. Left me behind because I'm useless and weak." She murmured. "I can't do anything for them. I want to. I want to be as strong as they are but that'll never happen." She pressed her face to her knees. "I don't deserve to be a part of the team. I'm nothing but dead weight. A stupid little girl who can only watch from the sidelines."

Kakashi sighed his heart aching for his lone female student. What she was doing to herself wasn't fair. Sasuke was from a clan known and feared for their incredible strength and power and Orochimaru had given him more. Naruto was the son of the fourth Hokage and host of the nine tailed fox. By birthright, the pair just had an incredible amount of power. There was nothing that could be done about it. Sakura's parents weren't legendary shinobi, they were just average people. The fact that she was as talented in the ninja ways as she was itself an incredible achievement. Never the less, he could feel the frustration, pain, and depression radiating from her as she sat curled beneath the tree.

"Sakura." He said softly. "You are not weak. You are an invaluable part of this team."

"No I'm not!" she wailed. "Anyone can do what I do! I swore on that day when we were attacked by those sound ninjas in the forest of death that I would get strong enough to protect them but I can't."

He thought for a moment and then knelt down in front of her. "Sakura, did you know that you have the best chakra control of the entire group?" he asked.

She glanced up at him confused. "So what?" she muttered. "It's only because I don't have much chakra to begin with."

He shook his head. "The amount of chakra has nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter how much power you have if you don't know how to control it. That also means that even if you have very little chakra, if you have precise control over it, you can take down opponents much stronger than yourself."

Her eyes widened a little at his words and he knew he was on the right track.

"Really?" she asked wiping away some of her tears with her hand.

He nodded. "That talent also means that you have the potential to be a great medical ninja." He continued.

"Medical ninja? Like Lady Tsunade?" she asked remembering the blonde woman.

"Exactly like Lady Tsunade." He replied with a nod of his head. "She's one of the greatest shinobi in the world and she started out just like you. She was on a team with two guys she thought she'd never be able to compete with."

"Who?" Sakura asked interested.

"She was on a team with Master Jiraiya and Orochimaru." He explained. "In their day, back before Orochimaru betrayed the leaf, they were known far and wide for their power and strength. If anyone knows what you're feeling, it's probably her."

"Do you think she'd be willing to take me on as an apprentice?" Sakura asked her eyes wide and slowly filling with the passion he knew she possessed but that had faded recently.

"I think that could be arranged." He said standing up and extending his hand to her. "It's definitely a better option than sitting her breaking your hands. Leave stupid things like that to Lee alright?"

She giggled a little at the mention of the bushy browed boy and took his hand to stand. "Do you really think I can ever be strong enough to stand beside them?"

He looked down at her taking in her small form and her bloodied hands. "I do." He replied. "Because you are the source of their strength." He thought to himself as he escorted her to the Hokage's office.

Sasuke's head hung as he listened. He couldn't imagine it. Sakura was so strong and confident yet she'd her light had nearly been extinguished by his own selfish actions.

"I had no idea." A rough voice said from behind startling him. There in the doorway stood Naruto. He'd been so wrapped up in Kakashi's story, he hadn't heard him come in.

The blue eyed boy's head hung as he processed what he'd just heard. "It never even crossed my mind that I had left her alone." Naruto said his voice laced with regret.

Kakashi shrugged. "It's all in the past now. She became who she is today because of those two years apart from you two." He glanced at his two pupils. "Besides, she was never truly alone. Tsunade and I both kept a careful eye on her. There were a couple of rough patches that she still had to struggle through but she made it through everything because she wanted to be your strength."

The two young men nodded feeling pride swell within them towards their teammate.

"So, that takes care of last night. What made you raving mad this morning?" Kakashi said as Naruto closed the office door and walked inside.

"Fangirls stalking you?" Naruto offered. "Or did you finally get a peak of some of Sakura's fan mail?" he teased as he laid a stack of paperwork on Kakashi's desk.

"Both and then some." Sasuke muttered pressing his fingers to his temples. "Sakura received a threatening letter this morning from her next door neighbor." He explained.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? That's a surprise. She's the village's best doctor after all. She's well-liked and respected all over the world."

"Well she's harboring a murderous psychopath in her apartment so…" he muttered.

Naruto burst into a fit of laughter. "That old hag again?"

Kakashi glanced over at his apprentice.

"She writes angry letters to Sakura after every time I come over telling her that the apartment complex isn't safe with me around. I'm a frightening beast you know." He explained.

"The only thing that can turn you into a frightening beast is a ramen shortage." Sasuke said with a smirk.

The Hogake shook his head and let out a sigh. "I see. That is a bit irritating but it doesn't explain your dark attitude." He said looking at Sasuke.

"Well, that's only part of it. You see, apparently the old woman's son lives there too and Sakura said that she didn't dry her clothes outside because of him." He explained.

"Ok. I'm starting to get the picture." Kakashi agreed "It still doesn't explain…"

"I found a hold in her bathroom wall today." Sasuke said cutting his teacher off. "When I checked to see how far it went, I found a grey eye looking back at me. I'll give you one guess of who the eye belonged too."

Naruto dropped the stack of papers in his hands and Kakashi's hands clenched.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked his eyes wide.

Sasuke nodded his hands nearly igniting at the memory.

Kakashi took a deep breath and closed his eye for a moment before he reopened them. "Well gentlemen. It seems we have a little time before our arranged training time. What do you say we pay this neighbor of hers a visit?"

Naruto nodded cracking his knuckles the wind shifting around him as his chakra flared. "I'm all over that." He replied.

Sakura smiled as she watched Ayame a tall but thin girl with brown hair concentrate as she wrote down the names of the medicinal herbs she had laid out for her.

"This is so boring!" her teammate Tamaki a boy with bright red hair and a hot head attitude whined.

"This sort of thing doesn't interest me." The third member of the team Aki, agreed. He was a surly looking boy with green hair and brown eyes.

Ayame smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry guys. I just…"

"Don't apologize." Sakura interjected. "I understand. They think medical ninja are weak and boring right?"

Tamaki nodded right away and Aki shrugged.

Sakura glanced at Kiba who glanced back and nodded a fanged grin cracking his face as he realized her intentions.

"Very well then. Ayame, feel free to continue working on your notes. Boys, you're going to spar with this weak and boring medical ninja." She said smirking at the two eager boys.

"Sensi!" Tamaki cried out. "Are you sure this is alright? We might hurt her."

The dog trainer leaned against Akamaru and nodded. "It's fine with me. I'm more worried about her hurting you."

Aki snorted. "Yeah right."

"It's alright." Sakura replied. "I can always put them back together again." She said with a wink.

Kiba nodded and watched as the three of them moved away from where Ayame was working to a clear part of the grounds.

"Sensie? Is Sakura going to be alright?" the girl asked nervously.

Kiba nodded crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh Sakura will be more than alright. She could thrash me in a fight if she wanted to." Ayame's eyes widened at her teacher's words. "It's those two idiots I'm worried about."

"Alright boys. Give me your best shot." She said smiling as the two boys took fighting stances.

"Don't say we didn't warn you!" Tamaki said drawing a kunia.

The boys rushed her and she quickly dodged their attacks surprising them. They pair went after her again and again but Sakura dodged, blocked and countered never giving the boys a chance to advance. After a few minutes of dodging the redhead got irritated.

"Common! Be serious! You haven't even drawn a weapon!" he growled as sweat dripped down his brow and his breathing came in gasps.

"Oh. I'm sorry." She said reaching into her pouch. The two braced for an attack but were surprised when she pulled out a pair of black leather gloves instead slipping them onto her hands.

"Uh… What are you doing?" Aki asked taking a step back nervously.

Sakura said nothing and smirked as she balled her hand into a fist. Gauging the distance and depth of the ground and the amount of impact she wanted her blow to have she focused some of her chakra into her fist. A small battle cry left her lips just before she struck the ground releasing a little burst of chakra and the ground crack and shifted in response. The two boys were tossed backwards by the shock wave and landed in the river behind them as she straightened up.

Tamaki and Aki quickly surfaced and stumbled to shore. Tamaki fell forward bracing himself on his hands and knees while Aki sat with his hands behind him both of them gasping. Sakura walked forward and the two boys yelped as they scrambled to move away from her.

"Would you like another demonstration?" she asked tugging on her glove.

"No mam'!" Tamiki replied his body trembling and Aki nodded jerkily in agreement.

Loud familiar laughter rang through the training grounds and Sakura turned to see Naruto grinning at her standing beside Kiba.

"You could've gone a little easier on them." Kakashi said from where he stood near the blonde with Sai and Sasuke standing on either side of him.

"Like you're one to talk." She snickered as she walked towards them. "I seem to remember a training session or two where I had to practically crawl home I was so banged up."

Kakashi shrugged and she walked past them to where Ayame stood staring at her in awe. "You're so strong!" she exclaimed as the medical ninja went to work putting the herbs back in her pack.

"I have to be." She said looking down at the girl. "See, a medical ninja can never allow themselves to be killed because if they die, who is going to heal the rest of the team?"

Ayame's eyes widened and then she nodded. "That's true."

Aki and Tamaki walked forward and bowed to her. "Thank you for taking time out to teach us." Aki said.

"Yeah. We'll behave next time." Tamaki said sheepishly.

Kiba nodded and walked forward. "Good job boys. I think you learned several important lessons today. One of which being that you should never underestimate your opponent."

The boys nodded and then glanced at the other shinobi gathered nearby. "Why are they here?" Aki asked.

"Isn't that the Hokage? Naruto and Sai are here too." Tamaki commented.

"I think the guy with the white shirt is Sasuke Uchiha." Ayame said standing up beside her teammates.

"Yup!" Naruto said bounding forward. "Are you done Sakura? I've been waiting all day for this!" he exclaimed.

"Sensie? What is he talking about?" Ayame asked.

"We're just going to do a little training." Sakura explained. "I don't know why Kakashi Sensei is here thought."

"I'm here to make sure you don't completely wreck the training grounds and be the referee." He explained.

"Oh common! Do we really need that?" Naruto whined. Sakura and Sai both raised their brows and the blonde cringed and then sighed. "Fine. What are the rules?" he asked.

"Don't kill each other and no summoning of anything taller than you are." Kakashi said giving both Naruto and Sasuke hard looks.

"Fine." Sasuke replied easily.

"Fun sucker." Naruto muttered.

"In addition, to make things more interesting. I'm going to pair you off." Kakashi said as he looked at the four shinobi. "How about…. Naruto and Sakura vs Sasuke and Sai."

Sakura nodded and walked up to her assigned partner smacking the hand he rose in a high five. "This is going to be awesome!" Naruto exclaimed grinning at her.

Sakura smiled back. They clearly had the advantage. She and Naruto had trained side by side for years and fought together often. Sasuke and Sai were barely acquaintances and were both men of few words. It didn't mean that she and Naruto were guaranteed victory by any means but she felt a little better going into the fight with Naruto by her side. Besides, she still owed Sai a beating for calling her ugly yesterday.

"Are you staying with your squad Kiba?" Kakashi asked the dog trainer.

"Yeah. I'd never miss a chance to watch Sakura dish out some major hurt and it's been a long time since I've seen any of Sasuke's fireworks." He said leaning against Akamaru he turned to his eager looking genin. "You three be careful though. These Shinobi are some of the most powerful in the world, even though they won't be fighting at full strength there is still the chance that things could get a little dangerous. Stay close to the Hokage and I alright?"

The three youngsters nodded and Kakashi nodded in agreement before he turned his attention back to the four warriors. "You guys heard that right? There are little ones nearby so don't go too crazy."

"Yes Sensei!" the four replied in unison before they each took their starting positions.

Sakura bent her knees her hands balling into fists her eyes focused on the two dark haired men opposite her. Naruto shifted his feet into a wider stance and formed knife hands one slightly further forward than the other as he smirked at his opponents. Sai pulled his paintbrush from his bag and his hand opposite hand rested on his scroll of paper as he studied his opponents without a trace of emotion in his eyes. Saskue shifted one of his feet back his good hand resting on the hilt of his sword and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again the black now stained blood red.

"Ready! Go!" Kakahi called out.

Naruto moved first and flung a series of shirtikan at his opponents who easily dodged the attacks. Sakura noticed a flash of black and leapt up avoiding one of Sai's snakes and back flipped into the treetops. She quickly leapt backwards again as Saskue appeared next to her grabbing him by the wrist as she went and forcing him down to the ground slamming her fist into him as they hit the ground cracking the earth as she released a burst of chakra. Sasuke vanished in a puff of smoke and she merely smirked. She leapt forward charging up the trunk of a tree as a flurry of kunai rained down on the spot where she'd just been.

"Dang Sakura! Do you want to kill Saskue?" Naruto asked as he created a rasingon and tossed it as Sai who narrowly missed the ball of air.

"Of course not." She replied as she pushed off the tree and drew a kunai slashing forward at her red eyed opponent. "I knew it wasn't him." Her knife caught the edge of Sasuke's shirt as she flew past him.

"You could've fooled me." Naruto replied shuddering at the girl's monster strength.

Her feet hit the trunk and she pushed backwards changing her target and slammed her fist into Sai's unguarded back smirking when he hit the ground a little grunt of pain escaping his lips.

"That's for calling me Ugly the other day." She remarked before turning her attention back to Sasuke as he blew a fireball at Naruto. Taking advantage of his lapse in attention she moved forward aiming a kick at the back of his knees. He turned just in the nick of time to avoid her attack and reached forward wrapping his hand around her arm and forcing it behind her back. She ignored the butterflies in her stomach at his proximity and instead focused her mind. Moving quickly she slammed her leg back against the Uchiha's making him lose his footing and then leapt backwards forcing him with her and slamming them both back into the tree behind them. He took the brunt of the blow and grunted. His grip on her slipped and she wriggled free and whirled around slamming her fist forward. His eyes suddenly changed color and in a flash he was gone and her fist connected with the tree instead snapping it in two.

The sound of a roar behind her caught her attention and she turned just in time to block one of Sai's painted beasts. It latched onto her forearm and she winced a little at the pain before she slammed it against a nearby tree reducing it to ink. Sasuke and Naruto clashed beside her and she refocused on the paper white boy in front of her. She leapt forward and aimed a kick at her opponents head and yelped as a rasingon whizzed past her.

"What the Hell Naruto!" she shrieked as the ball of wind grazed her leg drawing blood.

"Oops! Sorry!" he replied. "My bad!"

"Damn right!" she exclaimed as she jumped and whipped her leg around connecting solidly with Sai's shoulder. Over the past year, she'd found herself training more often with Rock Lee. It had seemed to help him deal with Gui Sensei's disability and she had to admit, on the days when she was totally sick and tired of her fan club and the pressure of her job a good spar with the boy who never pulled a punch was a welcomed form of stress relief. She'd also picked up a few things including the windmill kick she'd just used to send Sai flying backwards. Her moment of satisfaction was quickly ruined when a giant ink bird appeared and he went soaring into the sky.

"You little punk!" she cried out leaping into the treetops like a cat intent of her fowl prey.

"I got this Sakura!" Naruto called aiming a series of wind slashes at the flying ink bird.

"Sounds good. Let's trade!" she called out changing her direction and focusing her attack on the ruby eyed Uchiha. She pulled out a kunai as she launched at the young man and he drew his sword. Sparks flew as the two collided and she focused only on his blade and his feet avoiding eye contact with him at all cost which proved to be trickier than she imagined. He shifted knocking her feet out from under her and when she bounced back up to face him again, his eyes met hers for a brief moment and she knew she was toast. She immediately stopped her attack and closed her eyes knowing that everything that was going around her was part of an illusion. Her hands came together as she focused on stopping the flow of chakra in her body. She then refocused disrupting that same flow.

"Sakura!" Naruto called to her and she felt the familiar sensation of his chakra entering her body. Knowing the genjustsu was now broke she opened her eyes again and glared at the chest of her opponent not daring to look him in the eyes.

She hissed in frustration and went after him again focusing her chakra to help her move faster and strike harder. Finally her fist connected just below his diaphragm and she heard the gasp as the air was forced from his lungs and he went flying backwards slamming into a tree trunk.

"Ha! Nice one Sakura!" Naruto called out as he and Sai came hurling towards the earth. They hit with a hard thud with Sai on bottom and Naruto leapt backwards away from them to Sakura's side standing back to back with her.

"You're doing pretty good yourself." She responded as their arms touched a sense of security flowing through her even as her muscles throbbed.

"Alright! The match is over! Sakura and Naruto win!" Kakashi called out stepping between them just as their opponents were about to stand.

"Come on Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto whined. "We can totally keep going!"

"I know that better than anyone." The Hokage agreed. "However, if you keep going much longer, there won't be enough trees left for everyone else to use."

Sakura blinked and glanced around at the training grounds. They'd really made a mess of the place. Several trees had been sliced and broken down. There were even a few that were still burning while others were devoid of all of their leaves. Dark black stains of ink also littered the ground and the four shinobi all wore expressions of surprise.

"Oops. Sorry Kakashi Sensei." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.

The silver haired shinobi shook his head. "Don't be. This is what the grounds were created for. Anyway, I should get back to work. Naruto, get something to eat and meet me back in the office in an hour. Sakura, get them patched up."

She nodded tugging off her gloves and walked up to Sai who seemed to be the worse off of the three and went to work healing the cuts and bruises her hands moving with practiced precision over his pale skin. Her hands moved over the flat planes of his stomach and he winced as she went to work healing a somewhat deep gash on his stomach.

"You know, if you wore a shirt that actually covered your torso you wouldn't have this problem." She scolded him.

He chuckled. "Ah, but then you wouldn't get to enjoy the view." He replied.

She rolled her eyes at the comment as she poured her chakra into the wound sealing it shut. "Save that crap for when you're sweet talking Ino. I don't want to hear it." She replied as she moved her hands down over his legs fixing the nicks and bruises there.

"You're good to go." She replied standing up.

"Very well then. Thanks Sakura." He said flashing her his signature smile.

"You're smarter than I thought. If you'd called me Ugly I probably would've undone all the work I just did." She replied moving to Naruto.

"Which is exactly why I kept my thoughts to myself." He replied.

"What was that?!" she snarled.

"Nothing!" he replied quickly dashing off to stand by Kiba who was watching her with warmth in his eyes.

"Wow! That was so cool!" Tamaki exclaimed as he watched the rose haired ninja work on his new hero. "That blue ball of wind and light was amazing! Can you teach it too me!?" he exclaimed jogging up to the blonde as Sakura went to work healing the cuts and bruises on his body.

Naruto chuckled. "Maybe. We'll have to wait and see." He replied as Sakura moved her hands over him. "Thanks Sakura." He said as she finished.

"No problem." She replied with a smile before she moved on to her last patient.

She forced the butterflies dancing in her stomach down as she moved her hands over his face healing a cut that slashed down across his cheek before moving down to his chest. A quick smile of satisfaction briefly crossed her face before she masked it again as she noted the bruise in the exact shape of her fist just below his sternum.

"Admiring your handiwork?" he said softly looking at her with his coal black eyes.

She blushed and quickly poured her chakra into the spot removing the bruising. "What can I say? It's the first clean hit I've ever really landed on you." She admitted. Her hands quickly brushed over the rest of his body and she nodded in satisfaction when she was done.

"You done?" Naruto asked as she stood up and offered Sasuke her hand.

"Yes." She replied with a smile. "My work is a lot easier when there's a referee."

Naruto snickered and nodded. "True enough. Now let's go eat lunch. Let's go get-"

"Grilled meat!" Kiba interrupted.

"That sounds great!" Sakura said smiling brilliantly at the dog trainer.

Sai and the genin voiced their approval and the blonde's face fell for only a second before he smiled again. "Alright then! What are we waiting for?" he announced leading the way out of the training grounds.

She leaned close to Kiba cupping her hand to hide her lips. "Thank you for saving me from having ramen again. I swear the only thing Hinata has to compete with for Naruto's affection is that stuff."

Kiba laughed out loud and grinned at her. "Oh man do I have stories for you." He said. "Hinata raided his pantry the other day. I heard it was pretty brutal."

Sakura laughed as she walked beside him. "I can only imagine." She stopped when she noticed that a person was missing and glanced behind. She quickly spotted Saskue hanging back leaning against a tree and frowned. "I'll catch up in a minute Kiba." She said before she turned and jogged back to the Uchiha.

"Sasuke? What's wrong?" she asked as she drew closer to him.

He looked at her his eyes guarded and she sighed. He was clearly in one of those moods where getting any information out of him was going to be about as easy as chasing that damn cat from their genin days. Deciding she was up for the challenge she squared her shoulders and moved forward until she was about an arm's length away from him.

"It's nothing." He replied simply. "Let's go catch up with the others." He said pushing away from the tree.

"Liar." She muttered. "You can tell me you know. I'll always listen to what you have to say."

"What do you think of Kiba?" he asked.

She cocked an eyebrow at the question. "Kiba?" she repeated. "That's kind of a weird question to ask." She thought for a moment. "I guess we get along pretty well. I don't feel anything in particular for him. He's a good friend is all. Why?"

"No reason." He replied his expression softening a little.

A little of the tension Sakura had been holding herself released as she noticed the change. As they walked, a thought occurred to her. Sasuke had never really concerned himself with her relationships concerning anyone but Naruto in the past. Recently however, he seemed overly interested in her ties to other men. Her eyes widened as a light bulb went off in her head. She glanced at her onyx eyed companion who stared straight ahead scanning the upcoming road carefully a habit she noticed he'd always had. She watched as his eyes narrowed at a small group of young men standing near the entrance to the training grounds whispering amongst themselves as the pair drew near.

"There she is!" one of them with black hair exclaimed.

In a matter of moments the group of three quickly gathered around her. "Sakura! I watched the fight! You were so awesome!" one of them exclaimed.

"Seriously! How can someone be so beautiful, smart, and strong? It just isn't fair!" another whined tossing his blonde hair.

She blushed and held her hands up nervous about all of the attention. "Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I do need to get going though."

"Can't you stay a little while?" The blonde protested. "Teach me some of that medical ninjutsu you were using?"

The brunette of the group smirked at her moving closer. "I'll be a willing victim if you want." He purred.

Sakura sense a dark presence growing beside her and the three men stopped in their tracks their eyes widening with fear. "That can be easily arranged." The Uchiha replied his eyes shifting from black to red. "Which one of you should I rough up first?"

"Uh… on second thought, we'll just go study it at the library… which is that way…." The one closest to the pink haired ninja said shifting away from her.

Sakura felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and she was pulled quickly and roughly away. "Why on earth do you put up with that?" he demanded as they walked.

"I don't want to be rude." She replied quickly struggling a little to keep up with his stride.

"Well start. It's so annoying when they buzz around you like that. It makes me want to swat them like the flies they are." He snarled.

Sakura's cheeks colored as she stared up at her dark haired companion. It wasn't her imagination right? His grip on her shoulder as another young man in the village openly stared at her and his eyes flashed to red forcing the young man to look away. It most definitely wasn't her imagination. Sasuke Uchiha was jealous. Her heart began to beat at double time as the realization hit her. If he was jealous that meant he had feelings for her, right? "Slow down! Don't get ahead of yourself!" inner Sakura warned her. Even so she could help but let her hopes rise a little. Maybe all of the years of unrequited love would be over, just maybe.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes:

Thank you so much for reading this story! I never expected this much success and I really appreciate all of your support. The reviews I've received have all been fantastic and I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to write them. Now let's go watch the men of team seven teach an ornery old hag and a creepy pervert a lesson they'll never forget!

"Are you sure nothing is wrong?" Sakura asked Sasuke as the pair sat side by side at the restaurant. "You've been awfully quiet and you've hardly eaten a thing."

"You say that like it's something new." Naruto replied between bites of food.

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes before picking up a piece of meat with his chopsticks. "It's nothing. I'm just thinking about my meeting with Kakashi." he replied before popping the food into his mouth.

"Oh ok." Sakura replied before she went back to her own food. He watched as she leaned forward and tucked her hair behind her ear exposing more of her neck to his view. She glanced over at him and offered him a shy but sincere smile. It made him relax a little though his mind was still caught up in the events that had unfolded just before they'd met up with her on the training grounds.

Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi went over their plan of attack one last time and nodded to one another.

"Now remember, we're just supposed to put the fear of the gods in them not actually send them to meet any." Kakashi said looking sternly at both of his former pupils.

Sasuke exhaled loudly clearly dissatisfied but agreeable and Naruto openly pouted crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine. Whatever you say. Let's just hurry." The blonde remarked.

Minutes later, the three shinobi appeared in front of the door belonging to Sakura's neighbor.

"Well, here goes." Kakashi said as he raised his hand and rapped on the door.

Sasuke's body tensed fighting the temptation to touch the hilt of his sword as he heard voices coming from the other side of the door.

"Mom! There's someone at the door!" a male's voice called out. His blood boiled at the sound. Now he knew that the bastard sounded like. If he had his way he'd never have to hear the disgusting sound again. Naruto reached out tapping his hand lightly and he realized that he'd already reached for his sword. Taking a deep breath he moved his hand back and sighed as he realized for the first time in their lives, Naruto was the one acting more mature.

"Open it up then!" a wheezy voice responded.

There was the slight metallic sound of metal scraping metal as the lock turned and the door opened revealing the three ninja's prey.

"What do you want?" the first voice snapped as the door swung open. A short man in his late thirties with limp dishwater blonde hair stood in the doorway. He was heavy set with a round belly and beady grey eyes that Sasuke immediately recognized. He was dressed in a short sleeved shirt that was clearly a size too small and a pair of stained blue pants. His eyes narrowed and he jerked his chin slightly indicating that this was indeed their target.

The man's eyes widened as he recognized Kakashi. "Oh! Lord Hokage. What a surprise." He stammered. His eyes went to Naruto and Sasuke next and his expression hardened. It was clear he didn't like or trust them.

"Who did you say was at the door?" the wheezy voice asked.

"It's the Hokage." He replied.

"Is it really? Well then please show him in." the wheezy voice replied.

"Well… he has two others with him. I just don't know if…." The man argued.

"I said let them in." the wheezy voice replied.

"Yes mother." He replied moving away from the door. "Please come in." Kakashi entered first followed by Naruto and Sasuke. The man moved to separate the two from the masked man and glared openly at them. "If you hurt my mother, I'll kill you." He threatened in a low voice. "I don't know what kind of jutsu you two have on the Hokage but you're not fooling me you monsters." he said glaring at Naruto and Sasuke.

The dark haired Uchiha glanced at his blonde haired companion who met his gaze. Naruto was clearly thinking the same thing he was. This guy had to be a special kind of stupid to threaten them. They smirked at each other and then moved past the flustered looking man to the main living space where Kakashi stood across from an older woman with grey hair piled on her head in a bun. She was dressed in what had at one time been a fine kimono but was now faded and worn. Her eyes widened as the two shinobi entered the room and took their places on either side of Kakashi waiting for him to take the lead in the conversation.

"What is this all about Lord Hokage?" the old woman asked her voice shaking a little under the formal tone she was trying to use.

Kakashi nodded "Ms. Mamiya, I have received reports that some unsettling things have been happening at this apartment complex. As guardian of this village, I cannot over look this. I was told that you are the one with the most extensive knowledge on the unrest so I was hoping that you could enlighten me."

The older woman nodded and swallowed hard. "I'm honored Lord Hokage that you would take time out of your busy schedule to visit this old woman, however your companions…"

Kakashi nodded. "I understand, however due to their pasts I make it a point to keep them close so they stay under control. If you're not comfortable with them here perhaps your son could take them into another part of the house while we talk."

"That would make things easier." The old woman said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Very well then. Please go with…."

"Kenshin." The man replied walking forward. "Follow me." He said begrudgingly as he moved towards the bedroom. He opened the door and motioned for the two shinobi to follow.

Naruto moved first followed by Sasuke into the dark room. The older man flipped on the lights and Sasuke wrinkled his nose at the sights and smells. The room was a disaster with empty drink cartons, and bags of half eaten food strewn about. Clothes, papers, crumbs, and trash littered the floor and large posters depicting half naked women adorned the walls. He coughed as the overwhelming stench of body odor, old food, and mold and glanced over at his best friend who stood with his hands on his hips with his nose wrinkled in disgust.

"How can you live like this?" he asked the man who had cleared a spot off of the bed in the room and sat down.

"Like you're one to talk. I remember how your apartment used to look." Sasuke replied.

Naruto shot the Uchiha a dark look out of the corner of his blue eyes. "That was when I was twelve. This guy is clearly older than that."

"Shut up." Kenshin snapped. "I don't give a damn what a couple of monsters like you think." He said pulling what looked like a photo album from under his pillow and setting it in his lap

Sasuke snickered at the man's comment. He wasn't fooling anyone, if he really didn't care he wouldn't have said anything. He glanced at Naruto who was clearly annoyed but not angry and decided that now was as good a time as any to complete the mission they'd been given. He closed his eyes briefly and activated his sharringan and opened them again. He knew Kenshin would look at him sooner or later. Now all he had to do was wait.

"So, how are things going between you and Sakura?" Naruto asked leaning against the desk in the room moving away quickly when a cockroach crawled up his arm.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his friend's question and the blonde elaborated. "I mean you're living together. You can't tell me nothing has happened." He said with a suggestive wiggle of his brows.

The dark haired Uchiha added his best friend to his mental hit list and then sighed. It wasn't completely the idiot's fault he was like this. He had trained for years under the infamous 'pervy sage' Jairiya. Even Orochimaru had told him a couple of stories about his exploits. It was only natural that he'd picked up on some of the old man's dirty habits. "Nothing has happened." He replied curtly. The grey eyed man glanced in his direction meeting his eye and Sasuke immediately cast his genjutsu. With a simple push of his chakra the bulk of a man laid down and fell asleep.

"Well that was easier than I expected." Naruto whispered.

"The simpler the mind, the easier it is." The Uchiha replied. "Let's get to work." He shuddered at the amount of filth and sheer amount of things to sift through before he went to work looking through the room for any evidence of the man's perverted crimes. His attention was eventually drawn to the album held loosely in the man's arms and he moved quietly towards the bed nearly losing his breakfast as the oaf of a man shifted and lifted his arm above his head unleashing a fresh wave of body odor.

"Look what I found!" Naruto hissed holding a shoe box in his hands. He held up one of the contents and Sasuke's cheeks colored slightly as he focused on the lacy red thong. "There's no way these would fit him."

"Naruto, put it away!" Sasuke hissed at his friend before he turned his attention back to the album. With infinite care and control he grabbed the album and slipped it carefully from the man's weak grip. He paused for a moment as the man grunted in his sleep clearly noticing the item's absence and glanced around for something to replace it with. He found what looked like an old year book and slipped it into the man's grip again releasing a breath when he slipped into a deeper sleep.

"What have you got there?" Naruto asked moving to stand beside the Uchiha the shoe box of evidence tucked under his arm.

"Don't know yet. It seemed almost like he was trying to keep us from it with the way he grabbed it." He replied as he opened the book. His blood red eyes scanned over the glossy images in the album feeling the temperature rising in his veins. Rage. Pure unadulterated rage pulsed through him staining his vision red as his hands trembled.

A firm hand gripped his shoulder and his head snapped the side as he glared at the one touching him with eyes full of murderous intent. "Sasuke, I know how you feel. I swear I do, but we have to do this the right way." Naruto said quietly.

He took a deep breath and snapped the album shut as he struggled to suppress the darkness inside him. "Get me out of here before I kill him." He snarled. Naruto nodded and the pair quickly left the room the fruits of their labors in their hands.

Kakashi watched as his two former pupils followed the grey eyed man into the bedroom waiting until the door was closed to begin his conversation with the woman in front of him.

"Please have a seat." The woman said gesturing to the closest chair.

"Thank you." He replied sitting down. "Now please tell me what concerns you have about the safety of this complex."

The woman nodded and sat with her back straight her hands folded carefully in her lap. "Lord Hokage, I understand that you know my next-door neighbor, the Haruno girl."

He nodded. "Yes I know her. She's the best medical ninja I have in my ranks."

The woman nodded. "Yes, I'm well aware of her talents however, I fear that she's a poor judge of character." She replied.

"Would you please explain?" he asked a little irritation flowing through him at the woman's attempts to beat around the bush.

"You see I often find her in the company of the nine tails jinchuuriki. He's even stayed the night in her apartment. I've been told that he has control over the beast but I don't believe that. It's only a matter of time before the beast takes control." She explained.

Kakashi nodded trying not to let his irritation show before he answered. "I see. Well, it's to be expected that they would spend a lot of time together. They've been teammates for more than six years now. They're also two members of the sannin. It seems only natural to me that they would spend a lot of time together. Also, it might seem hard to believe, but Sakura is one of the only people in this world that Naruto is afraid of. She has no trouble keeping him under control."

The older woman fidgeted slightly glancing around to make sure the blonde wasn't nearby but was unable to find a suitable comeback. Instead she cleared her throat and moved on. "Well that may be, however the new man she's been seeing is even more alarming than the Uzamaki."

"Oh really?" Kakashi said already getting bored of the conversation.

"Yes! She's harboring that traitorous murderer Sasuke Uchiha in her apartment. I can hardly sleep at night. I know he's just waiting for the right opportunity to slaughter us all in our sleep just like his brother did to their clan!" she exclaimed.

The silver haired ninja closed his eyes and reminded himself that very few people knew the truth about the events of that night before he opened them again. "Ms. Mamiya, I understand your concern, however Sasuke has been pardoned of his crimes. Without him, none of us would've survived the fourth great ninja war. In addition, he is truly sorry for his past transgressions and is working to set things right."

The old woman's hands clenched into fists. "That boy is a monster! You only pardoned him because you were once his teacher."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed at the woman. "Ms. Mamiya, my personal feelings towards Sasuke had nothing to do with my decision. The facts did. It is a fact that Sasuke Uchiha was the lone survivor of a bloody massacre. It is a fact that he watched his brother kill his parents in front of him which would severely scar a person at any age. It is a fact that Ororchimaru placed a curse mark on him with the sole intention of obtaining his body and power to use for his own. It is a fact that he was manipulated mentally, physically, and emotionally by dark forces most of us cannot even fathom for years. It is a fact that he committed terrible crimes during those years. However it is also a fact he made the choice to come to our aid in our darkest hour and then willingly came back ready to accept any punishment for his actions. He has committed to protect the hidden leaf with his life and has been traveling the world trying to make up for what he's done. People can change." He said looking at the door that Sasuke and Naruto were behind. "Your next door neighbor, she doesn't just heal bodies, she heals the minds and hearts of those around her too. That's why the two of them stay close to her. She is their strength, their motivation to better themselves and stay on the path of light." He turned back to the older woman. "You can understand that right?"

The older woman's eyes widened and then looked down. "I still don't trust those two." She muttered.

"That's your right, however that doesn't give you the right to harass my top medical ninja whenever her teammates visit." He said deciding to get straight to the point. "The only reason that you're here today is because of the three of them. Most people would be honored to live so close to such strong and honorable warriors."

The woman lowered her head and sighed. "Perhaps I was too quick to judge them." She muttered quietly.

Just then, the door to the bedroom burst open and the two young shinobi appeared in the room with looks in their eyes that told the Hokage that their mission had been successful, perhaps too successful.

Sasuke said nothing knowing that in his current state, fire would probably fly from his mouth and instead strode over to his Sensei's side and tossed him the album desperate to get the source of his rage out of his hands.

Naruto followed and handed the shoe box to the silver haired shinobi as well before moving to stand beside the raven haired man.

"You ok?" he asked quietly.

Sasuke just shot him a dark look before he glared at the sleeping man in the bedroom. It occurred to him that he was still sleeping because of the genjutsu. He lifted his hands and closed his eyes. "Release." He snapped before he opened them again revealing their natural black color in place of the red. The man groaned and sat up rubbing his head and Sasuke fought the desire to introduce the man to the god of death right then and there.

"What was that all about?" the woman asked looking at the Uchiha nervously.

Kakashi opened the box and glanced at its contents and nodded placing it on the ground. Then he moved to the photo album and his eye widened as he looked at the images briefly before slamming the album shut.

"I see." He said with a tone that Sasuke knew well. It seemed calm but there was just a little roughness to it that indicated he was filled with anger. "Kenshin." The sixth Hokage called out. "Will you come here for a moment?"

"Yes sir." The man replied coming into the room.

"It has come to my attention that someone has been stealing the underwear of women living in this apartment complex." Kakashi said quietly.

"Really? That's not good." Kenshin replied. "I wonder who the sick nasty is?"

Kakashi opened the shoe box and tossed it onto the coffee table revealing its contents. Ms. Mamiya gasped and the massive man's eyes widened as he took a step towards the box.

"How did you-?" Kenshin stammered.

The silver haired man held up a hand silencing the grey eyed fiend. "What I hadn't received a report on was that this same person was also taking secret photographs of the leaf village's most powerful medical ninja as well." He said throwing the album onto the table. If fell open revealing several pictures of Sakura in various stages of undress.

Kenshin paled as the Hokage stood up and Sasuke and Naruto moved to flank him. "I have no idea what possessed you to commit such a heinous crime, but you couldn't have picked a worse target." He said slowly.

Ms. Mamiya's eyes widened with shock and she glanced at her son with eyes full of shame. "What is the meaning of this Kenshin?" she demanded.

The older man swallowed hard and then puffed out his chest in defiance. "So what if I took a few pictures? It's her fault for not noticing me. She's got a rocking body and what man could resist that? I'm sure the Uchiha agrees with me. He's been shacking up with her. Tell me how she tastes. I'm dying to know." He said his eyes gleaming with lust.

Sasuke's control snapped and faster than lightning he was before the man. His good hand balled into a fist and he slammed it into the pervert's jaw using just enough force to cause the maximum amount of pain without actually knocking the piece of garbage out. After all, he wanted him to feel every ounce of pain he had in store for him. He dragged the whimpering man back up to his feet by the collar and glared down at him his eyes flashing. "You sick bastard!" he hissed indifferent to the fear and pain in the man's eyes. "Death is too good for you!" his hands crackled with electricity as his chakra flared.

Naruto was at his side in an instant and slammed his knee into the grey eyed man's stomach. He gasped as the air was forced from his lungs and nearly fell to the floor a second time but was prevented from doing so by the two pairs of hands that gripped his shirt front. "How dare you disrespect Sakura like that!? You son of a bitch!" the jinchuuriki growled his eyes flashing from blue to red as an angry wind whipped through the room knocking pictures off the walls.

Kenshin looked at the pair of them and tears streamed down his face as he cradled his bruised jaw in his hand while his other arm wrapped around his sore middle. His eyes widened with fear as he realized just how much trouble he was really in.

"Sasuke, Naruto, that's enough. He's not worth it." Kakashi said moving towards the two shinobi and placing a hand on either one of their shoulder's pulling them back away from the man who slumped down to the floor.

"Let me at him Sensei!" Naruto demanded. "He needs to pay for this!" he said as a rasiningon appeared in his palm.

Sasuke nodded in agreement his hand balling into a fist. Black flames sparked to life surrounding his hand casting an eerie muted glow as the desire to unleash his anger on the disgusting excuse for a man cowering in front of him. He'd killed people over less before.

Kakashi met their eyes and grabbed each of their fists forcing them down. "Cool it you two. I think he's learned his lesson." He said glancing at the man who was sobbing like a child on the floor. "I'll tell you what though, you can destroy the evidence instead. I'm sure it won't be nearly as satisfying but it's something at least."

Naruto hissed and aimed a series of air blades at the shoebox turning both it and its contents into nothing but sliver sized scraps of cloth and cardboard.

Sasuke walked over and picked up the album. In seconds is was reduced it to ash crumbling onto the floor below. It wasn't satisfying in any way except for in the thought that the sick man would never be able to look at the offending images again.

"It's clear to me that these two monsters are more honorable and reliable than your own son." Kakashi said as he moved towards the door.

"You're quite right." The older woman said her face pale and her eyes cast down in shame. "I apologize for everything that's happened." She looked up at Naruto and then Sasuke. "It seems I was wrong about you two. Sakura is lucky to have you."

Naruto glanced at the older woman. "Naw, you've got it all wrong. We're the ones lucky to have her."

Sasuke nodded as his thoughts drifted to the pink haired medical ninja. "We owe her more than words could ever express."

Kakashi nodded. "She's definitely something special." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Hey guys, if we don't hurry we'll be late to our next appointment."

"Oh yeah!" Naruto said his face lighting up. "We better hurry! I'm totally going to kick your trash!" he said pointing at the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked, it was just like when they were kids all over again. Their last serious fight had proved that they were equal in strength but that didn't mean he was going to let the blonde idiot have his way with him. "Keep dreaming blondie." He replied.

Kakashi nodded and the three of them headed towards the door. Just before they left he turned back to face Kenshin and Ms. Mamiya. "Have a good day you two. I've already contacted the mangers of the building informing them about the hole in the bathroom wall. They'll arrive in about an hour to fill it." His eye narrowed ever so slightly. "Kenshin, if I hear even a whisper that you've tried anything like this again. I won't stop these two from giving you every ounce of punishment they think you deserve." He promised darkly.

Naruto chuckled darkly and Sasuke glanced back his eyes flashing blood red for a moment before changing back before the three of them vanished in a puff of smoke.

His attention returned to the present and he listened to Naurto and Kiba laugh loudly at one of the dog trainer's stories about Hinata's shyness. He noted that Naruto had been drinking and prayed it wouldn't cause him any problems. Sakura's hand lightly covered her mouth as she giggled and then she leaned towards Sai as he spoke softly to her. He strained his ears to catch the painter's words over the loud laughter coming from down the table.

"Sakura, was Ino ever like Hinata?" he asked quietly.

Sakura laughed. "Not really. At least not personality wise. I don't think that the term shy has ever been able to apply to her. She was lovesick over a boy like Hinata was once though."

The pale faced boy raised a dark brow. "Really? What boy was it?"

"This one." Sakura said motioning to Sasuke. "She and I would argue constantly over who he'd love one day and who would be his first kiss." She giggled and Sasuke got a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Sadly, neither of us were bestowed the honor." She mused.

"Oh? Then who was his first kiss?" Sai asked.

The Uchiha instantly reached out and pressed a hand to her mouth. "He doesn't need to know." He hissed in her ear.

"Know what?" Kiba asked.

"Sakura was about to tell me who Sasuke's first kiss was." Sai explained.

Kiba snickered and Sasuke knew it was all over. There was no way he'd be able to get to the dog trainer in time even if he teleported.

"Oh that's easy. It was Naruto." Kiba replied.

Sai's eyes widened and Naruto turned bright red. Sasuke's hand dropped from Sakura's mouth unleashing a flurry of giggles.

"I had no idea that you and Sasuke were that close Naruto. Is that the source of the unbreakable bond you once spoke of?" Sai asked.

"Shut up! It was an accident ok!?" The blonde snarled.

"If was your fault for getting in my face in the first place!" Sasuke spat irritated by the tinge of blush on his cheeks.

Naruto glared at him. "Fine! Whatever you say but the second time was definitely your fault!"

Sasuke groaned and hung his head covering his eyes with his hand. It had to be the effects of the alcohol on the idiot's brain. There was no other way he'd reveal that otherwise. It was a secret they'd both sworn to take to the grave.

"There was a second time?" Sakura asked her voice tinged with excitement. "I never knew about that."

"It was supposed to stay that way too." The Uchiha muttered.

"Oh yeah. It was back when we went on that mission to get that ugly statue back when we were genin." Naruto explained. "You know the one, when Saskue and I got stuck together."

Sakura nodded. "I remember that mission."

"Well, it happened while we were trying to get our hands separated." Naruto explained. "We were trying anything that came to mind to get out of it. There was a waterfall nearby with a rock jutting out of it so we thought that the force of our jump and the rock would break the sticky stuff. Boy were we wrong!" he said giggling.

"So what happened?" Kiba asked.

"Please stop talking before I make you." Sasuke groaned knowing that his words would be ignored.

"Our hands got caught on the rock but that stuff just stretched. When it stretched as far as it could we were shot into the air like a sling shot and our faces crashed into each other again." He explained. He snickered. "I still remember. Sasuke was all 'Why do I always end up kissing you!?'"

Sasuke hung his head as Sakura dissolved into a fit of giggles clutching her sides as she tried to keep her voice down. Kiba wasn't even trying to keep quiet as he laughed heartily and he swore the paper faced boy Sai chuckled. He was going to kill the blonde idiot for this humiliation.

"What are you looking so down about?" Naruto said hooking his arm around the Uchiha's neck. "That disaster of a mission really did strengthen our bond. So what if it was three days of Hell being stuck to you? At least we didn't do through Hell alone right?"

Sasuke thought for a moment remembering how much they'd fought one another and then together during that mission. It had without a doubt strengthened their bond. The blonde idiot had been so desperate to save Sakura in spite of their obvious disability. In reality, he himself had been just as anxious to save her but was worried about not being able to do it properly while stuck in such a terrible way. Naruto hadn't cared and his determination had rubbed off on him.

"You're right." Sasuke said quietly offering a small smile to his best friend who grinned widely back. "However…" he said moving his arm slightly. "That doesn't mean I'm going to let you off the hook!" he growled slipping out of the blonde's grip and putting him into a headlock. "We swore to take that secret to our graves!" he hissed as Naruto struggled in his grip.

"You're right. I'm sorry!" Naruto gasped as he flailed in the Uchiha's iron grip. "Forgive me Sasuke!"

"Never!" Sasuke replied before letting the blonde go. "Anyway, you should get going. You have to report back to the Hokage right?"

"Right. More useless paperwork." Naruto muttered. "Anyway, see you around!" he said before he bounded out of the restaurant.

Sasuke sighed at the scene his best friend always seemed to make and then turned his attention back to the rest of the group. His nose wrinkled a little as he realized that once again she was surrounded my males. Just two to be exact and he knew them both, but still.

"So are you really ready to take the next step with Ino?" Sakura asked.

The painted blushed and nodded. "I think so. I mean we've gone out on several dates and neither of us see anyone else. Doesn't that mean we should make it official?" he asked.

Sakura chuckled. "Sai, I'm pretty sure Ino already thinks is official. If you want to formalize it though, go ahead."

Kiba nodded. "Yeah. She tells everyone you're her boyfriend already so just make if official already."

Sai nodded. "What do I say though?"

Sakura reached out and patted his shoulder. "You're probably talking to the wrong people here considering this entire group is perpetually single. However I know Ino and I'm sure that as long as you speak from your heart she'll be happy. Just don't say the words 'I read in a book' at all during the conversation and you'll be fine."

Kiba nodded. "Yeah. Getting a gift would probably help too." He glanced at the clock and sighed. "Anyway, I've got to run."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"I'm going to quiz the kiddos on your lesson today." He explained. "I want to see just how much sank in. See you guys later!" he focused on Sakura. "Let me know what day works best for you. I owe you dinner remember."

"Right! Sure thing Kiba." Sakura said with a smile.

Sasuke sat down and worked on finishing his meal. He'd committed himself to telling Sakura about what had happened with the next door neighbors after they ate but he wasn't sure how to go about it yet so he was stalling.

Sai turned back to Sakura his expression one of confusion. "Sakura, are you and Kiba dating?"

The Uchiha chocked on his tea at the question earning a concerned glance from Sakura. He shook his head indicating that he was fine and she shrugged turning back to Sai. "No Sai. Kiba and I aren't dating. He's just a good friend of mine. We worked together a lot after Pain attacked since he was the fastest message runner."

"Why did he ask you to dinner then? I was under the impression that was a date like activity." He said scratching his head.

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "He's just doing that to pay me back for teaching his genin on my day off. It has no special meaning."

Sai shrugged. "Very well. If you say so."

Sasuke walked side by side with Sakura through the streets of the leaf village in silence. After a few minutes Sakura spoke up.

"So what did you want to do?" she asked.

He shrugged. He didn't really care what they did as long as she was with him and away from all of the love sick idiots in the village. They drew near to a park and to his surprise Sakura's face lit up and she dashed towards it. She jumped onto an empty swing and pumped her legs to get it in motion. He watched her as she moved her face turned up into a smile. It never ceased to amaze him how little things like this seemed to make her so happy. He knew that she had experienced more than her fair share of horror in her life. She'd killed people, lost people, and was one of the top medical minds in the world. No one would blame her or be surprised if she was off brooding somewhere dark and secluded but instead, here she was swinging in a children's play area. She truly was a ray of sunshine.

"Did you know that this was the park where Tobi attacked us and sent us into that alternate world?" she asked him drawing him out of his thoughts. He shook his head and moved closer. "Yeah. Naruto and I were on a date and ended up here." She pointed across the park to a spot where the cement seemed newer. "It was right there. There used to be a massive crater there left from it." She explained.

Sasuke was only half listening as his mind whirled. She and Naruto had gone on a date?

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "You seem different. I'd say you're quieter than normal but you've never spoken much. You just seem distracted or something."

He glanced at her and then sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I just have a lot on my mind." He replied.

"I know I say this at least once a day, but you really can talk to me." She said letting her toes drag on the ground as the swing slowed.

He glanced her way and found himself captivated by her emerald eyes. They were so warm, so sincere. Every emotion she felt for him could be read as clearly as she met his gaze. She cared for him in the truest, purest way possible. There were no ulterior motives, no desire for increased status or power. She didn't want him by her side to be a trophy like his fangirls. She didn't want him close to use his powers for her own goals like Ororchimaru, Tobi, and Madara had. It was clear in those endless pools of green that she wanted to stand by his side and be his strength because she loved him truly from the bottom of her heart. He wanted to reciprocate her feelings, he truly did. Watching her interact with them men of the village was maddening, the pervert next door and all of the hateful emotions he felt towards him, and even how he'd reacted to Sai's innocent question made it clear that he felt something for her. It had gone beyond the scope of what a teammate felt towards their comrade, beyond what a friend felt for another friend, it was even deeper than the feelings a brother might have for a sister. Was this love? The overwhelming desire to monopolize all of her affection, the crippling bouts of jealousy. It had to be right? There was one way to know for sure though. One touch would be able to tell him everything he needed to know.

"Sakura." He said softly moving towards her. He extended his hand and tapped her lightly in the middle of the forehead, his fingers brushing the indigo spot that he knew she'd worked hard to achieve partially for his sake. Warmth spread through him at the brief skin on skin contact but it was different from the feelings he'd experience with Itachi. It was nearly as intense, but hotter, more like lightening than fire. It sparked to life inside of him a strong desire to pull the woman in front of him into his arms and never let her go. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the swing and then tugged her towards him until she crashed against his chest. His arms encircled her and pressed her petite form to his own taller one marveling at how perfectly her body felt against his own. He bent his head tucking hers under his chin and breathed deeply taking in the fruity scent of her shampoo and the silky smoothness of her blush colored hair.

"Sasuke?" Sakura spoke from where her head was pressed to his chest. "What are you-?"

"Shh." He shushed her quietly not wanting the spell to be broken.

She obliged and he felt her arms hesitantly encircle his waist before she nestled into his embrace a little sigh of contentment escaping her lips. After a few moments it occurred to him that he was feeling too good. He had no right to feel this amount of peace of contentment, not after what he'd done. His arms began to loosen even as Sakura's tightened.

"You're doing it again." She murmured against his chest. "Thinking those ridiculous thoughts about how you don't deserve to be happy."

His eyes widened. How did she know? Was he that transparent or was it something else?

"I know you Sasuke." She said softly. "I know that you're sorry for everything you've done. I know that your heart aches because all of the people that you've killed and tried to kill. I know you hate yourself for being manipulated and used by evil people for despicable purposes." She reached up and touched his face. "I also know that you miss them. Your parents and Itachi. I'm sure you feel incredibly lonely." Tears leaked from her eyes as she focused on his onyx orbs. "You don't have to be strong all of the time you know. I'm here for you. I might not be strong enough to protect you physically, but please let me protect your heart. Let me share your burdens, I want to. I love you Sasuke."

Something within him broke. Without another word, he scooped the pink haired medic into his arms and ran with blinding speed through the village intent on his goal. Within minutes, he'd arrived at his destination and set Sakura down on her bedroom floor. He slammed the window and the curtains shut before turning away from the pink haired girl as he fought for control to repair the walls beginning to crumble.

"Sasuke." She said softly her voice thick with emotion. He could hear the sadness, the concern, the love in her voice. All of those feelings were for him, all of the tears were for him. Her slim but strong arms wrapped around his waist from behind and held him tightly and the walls turned to dust. For the first time since Itachi's death, Sasuke Uchiha cried. Tears of guilt, frustration, anger, confusion, sadness and loneliness tumbled silently down his cheeks as he slumped to the ground. Sakura moved with him and laid her head against his shoulder and he could feel her own tears on his skin.

Several minutes later, his eyes dry he reached for Sakura's hand resting in his lap. "Sakura." He spoke her name with infinite gentleness as he tried to convey all of the things he couldn't tell her yet but wanted to and all of the feelings for her growing in his broken heart. "Thank you. For everything."

"You don't have to thank me." She said as she shifted moving her arms from his waist and trailing them up his back to his shoulders in a movement he recognized was meant to relax away some of the tension in his muscles. "I'm actually quite happy at the moment. You finally opened up to me." She rose from the floor and opened the bedroom door. "I could use a cup of tea and some rice balls right about now. Care to join me?" she asked smiling at him. He could feel the joy radiating off of her and it made him feel better in spite of the frustration at himself for showing his weakness.

He nodded and followed her into the kitchen. She moved gracefully through the space humming a little tune he didn't recognize. She glanced at him and blushed prettily a shy smile ghosting over her lips before she turned back to the task at hand. As he watched her work, he thought that maybe this wasn't wrong. It felt right having her close and it had clearly made her happy when he'd held her. Maybe, just maybe it was alright to do things that made him feel something besides pain especially if it made her this happy as well.

"Here you go." Sakura said setting the plate of rice balls and two cups of tea down on the table in front of him.

"Thank you." He said taking one and nibbling on it. They had been his favorite food when he was younger and he was still quite fond of them. A yelp suddenly sounded through the wall and the two shinobi jumped as a voice hollered loudly from next door.

"It hurts mother!" Kenshin cried. "It's probably broken. That damn Uchiha!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What's he whining about? Didn't he just say Uchiha?" she asked looking at Sasuke.

He sighed. Now was as good a time as ever to tell her what had happened. "Sakura, there's something you should know." He started.

Minutes later, he had her arms trapped behind her back as she flailed wildly. "Let me go!" she roared. "That pervert is going to die!"

He sighed and just held on tight. "Calm down Sakura." He muttered even though he knew it was useless. Just as she was about to wriggle out of his grip a knock sounded at the door. He released her and barely made it to the door ahead of her ready to shove her back inside if needed and found Mei a messanger from the Hokage's office standing there.

"Hi." She said nervously clearly intimidated by the Uchiha. "Umm… Lord Hokage sent me to fetch Master Sasuke and Lady Sakura."

"Really? What for?" Sakura asked her anger dissipating as she focused on the girl.

"He said it's urgent but nothing else. Please come with me." She said bowing respectfully.

"Yeah. Ok." Sakura said slipping into her shoes. "I wonder what he wants."

"Who knows." Sasuke said as he pulled his own sandals on. "We should probably hurry though."

"Right." Sakura said as the pair left her apartment locking it securely before they followed the young woman onto the streets.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Once again I want to say thank you for all of your continued support of this story. It started out as an experiment and has become much bigger than I anticipated thanks to all of you. In regards to the review about the hole in the wall: I understand your concern, however I wrote it this way for a few reasons. The first of which being that I needed something pretty huge to trigger Sasuke's protective side enough to make some satisfying fireworks considering how cool headed he is. He also knows better than just about anyone that she can take care of herself so the only thing that I could think of that would really get his blood boiling was a blatant, perverted invasion on her privacy like that. In addition, Sakura up until this point has been working pretty much non-stop. My reasoning behind her not noticing the hole in the wall was related mostly to the fact that she was so exhausted when she got home that the idea to look probably never crossed her mind or she noticed it once and thought "I'll fix that out later" and then forgot about it completely in her overworked daze. Most people let their guard down in their homes and I don't think Ninja are an exception to that even if they try to be more vigilant. As an outsider Sasuke would've noticed it much faster because he had fresh eyes. (Kind of like how you can tear a room apart looking for something and can't find it to save your life but a friend comes in and points it out away in a blatantly obvious spot that leaves you questioning your own intelligence) Anyway, I hope that clears up any confusion.

Sakura walked by Sasuke's side following the dark haired Mei through the streets. She glanced at him as they walked and decided to continue their conversation that started in her apartment before she saw red.

"So you told me what you found in their apartment but you never said what happened afterwards." She said looking at the dark haired shinobi. "Did Kakashi Sensei give him a punishment or anything?"

Sasuke shrugged. "He didn't but I don't think that he'll try anything like that again."

She raised an eyebrow irritated by his evasive nature. However it was as much a part of him as the spiky black hair she loved so she decided to let it go, for the moment at least. After all, he'd just broken down in her bedroom. She never thought that she'd ever see him in that state only because she assumed his pride would never allow him to do so in front of someone. For that reason, she'd stayed behind him instead of holding him to her chest like she desperately wanted to. He was a strong, proud man in spite of everything he'd been through and she knew he was likely upset that he'd allowed her to see as much as he had. She couldn't help but be happy though. Not because of the pain that he'd been through but because he'd shared some of his weakness with her. She'd seen a side of him that she was fairly certain not even Naruto had seen which made her think that perhaps she did have a special place in his heart after all.

They walked through the halls of the Hokage's building encouraging whispers and long stares as they went. It was no surprise, the two were powerful, famous shinobi with colorful histories. A thought occurred to her and she turned towards her dark haired companion.

"Did you know that there's a shinobi author that wants to write a biography on you, Naruto and I?" she asked trying to ease the tension still visible in his shoulders as well as distract him from the dark thoughts she knew were probably brewing in his mind.

He glanced down at her. "Really?" he replied.

She nodded. "Yes. His name is Momiji and he's from the village hidden in the grass. He said he wanted to get started on it as soon as he finished the book he was writing on the original sannin."

The Uchiha nodded and then glanced down. "I think my story would taint yours and Naruto's." he mused softly.

Sakura sighed. Of course he'd think that way. He probably always would but that didn't mean she wouldn't try to change his mind. "I don't think so." She protested. "I mean, Naruto and I wouldn't have become as strong as we are if it wasn't for you."

Sasuke blinked and looked down at her and she saw just a glint of light in his eyes which encouraged her to speak more.

"We made a promise to get you home safe and sound and we managed to accomplish our goal. What could make for a better story than that?" she asked.

He simply nodded as they arrived at the Hokage's office and Sakura knocked on the door. "Come in!" Naruto's voice called out.

They walked inside and the pair were surprised to find Sai already there standing in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Are we late?" Sakura asked as Mei closed the door behind them.

"No. Sai is just early." Kakashi said as he scribbled on a scroll.

The pale faced boy smiled and then shrugged.

"What's this all about?" She asked then as she moved to stand beside the painter with Sasuke at her side.

"I've received reports of a peculiar series of events happening in the fire nation lately." The Hokage said laying his brush down. "According to the rumors villages are being attacked by terrifying creatures who seem to be similar to the tailed beasts though not as large or strong. They cause a significant amount of damage and seem to target the villagers with the largest amounts of chakra." He glanced at the Uchiha. "Have you heard or seen anything like this in your travels?" he asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "No. I spent most of my time in the land of lightning and I heard and saw nothing of the sort there."

"I see." Kakashi said making a note in his scroll. "That's helpful information at least. The attacks seem to be moving towards the land of wind and they seem to be intensifying. I'd like to send the four of you out to investigate the matter."

Sakura nodded and took the paper detailing their mission that Naruto handed to them scanning over the village names and casualty list frowning at how small it was.

"Kakashi Sensei, if these monsters are similar to the tailed beasts, why aren't the casualties higher? I know they're not as big but weren't the tailed beasts thirsty for blood?" she asked.

Kakashi smirked under his mask. "That's the other part of this case that's intriguing. According to the witness reports, shortly after the beasts arrived and started running amok someone would appear and contain the beasts."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked. "Were they sealed or something? Have more jinchiruuki been created?"

Kakashi shook his head. "That's the strange part. All of the witnesses report the same thing, a figure dressed in black wearing a mask appears out of nowhere in front of the beasts and does battle with them. The beasts are contained using strange seals during these battles. After that the figure sings and a hole opens in the sky. The beasts are then sucked in never to be seen again. Then this mystery person and a strange boy with silver hair and red eyes accompanying them attend to the wounded, leave money for the repairs and vanish before the villagers are able to thank them properly."

Sakura's eyes widened. The story was unbelievable and the red eyes… She glanced at Sasuke whose own eyes were wide.

"Red eyes?" he repeated looking at the report. "How can that be?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know. The villagers who were interviewed don't know what sharringan look like so there's no way of knowing if that's what this boy has or if it's just his natural eye color."

"It's possible." Sakura mused touching her hand to her chin. "Children born with albinism have pink or red colored eyes. It would make sense given his hair color but there's no way to be certain unless we manage to catch a glimpse of him."

Kakashi nodded. "Those were my thoughts exactly. In addition, the villagers noted that the healing power the stranger possessed was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Those healed claim to have more chakra than before which isn't a bad thing but I'm curious about it, which is why I want you to go Sakura. I want you to get blood samples from some of the villagers that were healed by this mystery person."

Sakura nodded and pulled a pen from her bag marking the names of those claiming to have been healed. "Is there anything else we should know Sensei?" she asked.

Kakashi nodded and leaned against his hands that were laced together as he rested his elbows on his desk. "There was a sound ninja who witnessed one of the battles. He noted in his report that he could not sense the figure's chakra when they first initially appeared. It wasn't until the figure began to battle the beast that he could sense it. He remarked that the amount of chakra was powerful but not overly concerning until it opened the hole in the sky. The chakra he felt at that moment when the hole was opened and then closed again was stronger than anything he'd ever sensed in his life."

The four ninja studied the Hokage carefully.

"This sound ninja. Did he serve in the war?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi nodded. "He did. He even fought on the front lines."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Wait a second! That means he was able to sense and feel Sasuke's and Naruto's chakra as well as those of the former Kage's and the tailed beasts! Wouldn't that mean that this person's chakra was stronger than those?"

Kakashi nodded his expression serious. "Exactly."

Sakura took a deep breath. What Kakashi was saying was crazy. A person with more chakra than Naruto when he harnessed Kurama's power? More powerful than Sasuke when he used Susanoo? A person that powerful was dangerous.

"Did the stranger have any identifying marks? A head band or anything?" she asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "None. Just the mask that covered the lower half of their face. They were cloaked and hooded as well. The survivors couldn't even agree on the figure's gender." He sighed. "This case is troubling on many fronts. If this person indeed is as powerful as the sound ninja surmised than we need to find out who they are and what side they're on. In addition, we need to find out what or who is summoning these creatures similar to the tailed beasts." He looked at the shinobi assembled before them. "You are the strongest and most capable shinobi in the village. Sending you all away from the village at once is not something I would choose to do over a light situation. Please do your best to get to the bottom of this and quickly. You'll leave at dawn to go to the village where the last attack was recorded. Go ahead and get ready, this mission could last from anywhere to a few days to months so be prepared for anything."

Sakura went to work packing her bag full of clothes and medical equipment. She went to her closet and swapped out her casual clothes for her mission clothes. She donned her black shorts and pulled her red and white dress over it. Her thick black belt containing emergency medical supplies just in case she lost her bag was snapped around her waist. She pulled her pink arm protectors over her elbows and then wrapped bandages around her thigh and secured her weapons pouch to it. She slipped black braces over her knees and secured her leaf headband into her short hair and nodded as she took in her appearance. She exited the room and found Sasuke already packed and ready to go sitting at her kitchen table munching on tomato slices she'd left in the refrigerator. He glanced up at her as she entered the room.

"You said I could help myself to any of the food and I didn't want it to go to waste." He explained as he picked up another slice.

She shook her head and walked over to her book shelf she grabbed a small leather bound book from the shelf and flipped through it briefly before stowing it away in her bag.

"Good idea." She said as she moved through her apartment making sure her valuables were put away. The village was relatively safe but she knew that if anyone noticed that Naruto was gone, they'd know she was gone as well and it never hurt to be too careful especially now that she knew what her neighbor had been up to.

"Shall we?" Sasuke said rising from his spot at the table.

She nodded a thrill going through her at the thought of going on a mission with Sasuke at her side again. "Yes. Let's go."

It was like something out of a dream as Sakura walked through the trees with Naruto and Sasuke by her side. She couldn't help the smile that was plastered on her face and the frequent giggles that escaped her lips as Naruto, Sai and Sasuke hurled insults are one another. Under normal circumstances she probably would've smacked all three of them and told them to knock it off but right now, she just didn't care. They stopped for the night and Sakura volunteered to take the first watch gazing up at the stars thanking them for the opportunity she had to finally have her family back together. It might seem petty, childish or even downright naïve to some, but she truly saw her team as her family. She would lay down her life for them without hesitation and she really adored all of them. Rowdy but sincere Naruto, socially awkward yet sensitive Sai, and the cool and collected Sasuke. She pulled out the leather bound book from her bag and glanced around making sure all of her companions were sleeping before she pulled out a pen and began to write. It was her private journal, one she'd begun to keep at Lady Tsunade and Kakashi Sensei's recommendation while training to help cleanse her mind. She wasn't stupid, she knew that it was because they were hoping if she got down all of her feelings on paper that she'd be able to heal and excel faster in her training. It had worked, she'd named her diary Sasuke and wrote to him every day in a form that he would never read but it still made her feel close to him. She'd cussed him out, sang his praises and threatened his life over and over in the leather bound pages. Now she was writing her feelings for him, the joy of having him back, the moments that were precious to her that they'd shared and her suspicions that he might actually have feelings for her considering his recent jealous behavior.

"I didn't expect this. What are you writing?" A low voice said near her ear. She yelped and jumped slamming the book closed and stuffed it into her bag stumbling backwards as she found herself face to face with the namesake of her journal.

"Sasuke." She squeaked. "What are you doing up?" she asked.

He shrugged and sat down beside her. "I'm not used to sleeping this close to people." He admitted. "Naruto moves so much in his sleep it's ridiculous." He muttered.

Sakura glanced over to where the rest of the group were sleeping near the campfire and chuckled. Naruto was sprawled out across his bedroll half uncovered with his arms flung out of either side muttering something about Hinata taking his ramen. She chuckled and stood up walked to his bedside and covered him up smiling warmly at him. Out of habit, she moved to Sai's side and touched his wrist, one of the few parts of his body that never stayed above the blankets and pressed her fingers lightly against the pulse point. Finding it strong and steady, she tucked the arm under the blanket, brushed his hair out of his face affectionately before returning to Sasuke's side.

"Do you do that often?" he asked gesturing to their sleeping comrades.

Sakura nodded. "Most of the time anyway. They say fools never catch colds but Naruto tempts the Gods of fate enough as it is. I just try to keep him covered up for his sake and Hinata who would probably literally worry herself sick over any illness he caught." She said smiling at the blonde. "Sai, he's so pale that I can't really tell by looking at him what his condition is unless he has a fever. He sleeps so still too, he looks dead so I have to check." She smirked at the pale shinobi. "You know, I really hated his guts at first but he's grown on me. On our first mission together I was knocked out during the battle and he took off as I fell. If Captain Yamato hadn't acted when he did, I definitely would've died. Now, I think he'd pull me out of harm's way before Naruto though I think that's probably more due to the fact that I usually get into trouble while trying to save Naruto's skin."

Sasuke nodded and glanced at Sai. "I don't really know what to think of him." He admitted.

Sakura blinked at the Uchiha as she tried to read him. He seemed a little down though she wasn't sure why. Deciding that it was probably best not to pry, she changed the subject. "So tell me about your travels." She said bringing her knees to her chest.

He looked at her and shrugged before he cast his eyes towards the heavens. "The world is a mess." He said finally. "It seems like there's never any end to the fighting. There's always someone who wants to destroy the current world or take it over and is willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to do so." There was pain in his voice as she spoke and her heart ached for the man sitting beside him. She knew he was reflecting on his dark past. After all, he'd been one of those people drunk on power and consumed by darkness once before. Cautiously she reached out and touched his arm lightly trying to give him the comfort he needed but would never ask for.

"That's true." She agreed. "However there are also people in this world like Naruto." She said glancing at their sleeping friend. "People who never give up, who will fight tooth and nail to protect this world and the people in it. As long as Naruto is here, this world will never crumble."

He looked at her and then nodded the corners of his lips turning up a little. "That's true enough. Even if the world wanted to crumble, he'd glue it back together anyway."

"Yup. That's Naruto for you." She said with a little giggle. A yawn escaped her lips and she stretched trying to wake up her body.

"Go ahead and get some sleep." Sasuke said motioning to the fire. "I'm sure you're tired."

"I can stay up." Sakura said shaking her head. "I do this all the time. It's the normal two am slump. It's just like the two pm one." She insisted.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at that. "Kakashi Sensei wasn't exaggerating. You really are pushing it."

Sakura blushed and then chewed on her bottom lip as she fought the temptation to pout. Truth be told, she really was tired but she didn't want to miss a second with Sasuke. There was a part of her that was terrified that this was all a dream, that she'd wake up and he'd be gone again.

"I'm not going to go anywhere." Sasuke said and she jumped a little as she looked over at him. His eyes were his natural coal black so there was no way he had read her mind, but still. He seemed to read her hesitation and he sighed. "I'll be right back." He said standing up and moving over to where his black shoulder bag was. He returned moments later carrying a black blanket and draped it over her before sitting down again. "If you won't sleep, at least try to rest." He urged her.

Sakura sat frozen for a moment, startled by his sudden act of kindness. She nearly opened her mouth to question it but decided against it. Instead she wrapped herself in the warm wool and breathed deeply smiling at the scent that was uniquely Sasuke attached to it. She leaned back against the tree trunk once again gazing at the stars and smiled. There was a time when the only comfort she had was the knowledge that somewhere Sasuke was out there under the same stars. Now here he was at her side looking at the same stars she was. She blinked slowly as her body and mind relaxed slowly giving in to the desire to sleep. Instinctively she leaned towards the Uchiha at her side her head coming to rest against his shoulder. When he didn't push her away, she smiled and finally gave herself over to sleep.

Sasuke looked down at the woman leaning against him shook his head at how quickly she'd fallen asleep after receiving the blanket. He'd known she was exhausted, it was written all over her face and evident in her chakra signature but she'd fought it. She shifted beside him clearly trying to get more comfortable. With a sigh he slowly and smoothly shifted both of them so that she was laying down with her head resting in his lap. She sighed in her sleep and shifted closer to him hair falling over her eyes. He brushed the rose colored locks from her face and studied the planes of her face. She was very pretty with high cheek bones, a Cupid 's bow mouth, and expressive almond shaped eyes. His eyes studied the spot where the indigo diamond lay in the middle of the large forehead she was so self-conscious of and he tapped the spot gently. He'd made a point to study about the seal and had be shocked when he'd found out that she'd attained it after only three years. The amount of chakra control she had to poses was incredible and easily put his own to shame. His anger had flared however when he'd learned that the mark also shortened the wielders life span. He knew that she'd done it in an attempt to catch up to he and Naruto which only added to his guilt.

"You can be so annoying sometimes." He muttered. "You don't have to prove anything to us."

She shifted in her sleep and a frown touched her lips. Her brow furrowed and a whimper escaped her lips. He held his breath contemplating whether to wake her from her nightmare when she spoke.

"Sasuke, please don't leave me." She whimpered a single tear slipping from her lashes and sliding down her cheek.

The weakness of her tone and the tear added to the heaviness of his heart. Was she dreaming about the past, the present, or the future? It didn't really matter. What mattered was that she was hurting again because of him. He brushed the tear away and then moved his hand to cover hers. "I'm not going anywhere right now you silly girl." He muttered. "So please, don't cry anymore. You have no idea what your tears do to me." He'd never really understood why, but her tears had always affected him. Even from the time they were children if she was crying all he wanted was to get away from them or make them stop. In short, they were the most annoying thing on the planet. After becoming team seven her tears had sparked a different emotion, one of irritation not towards her but towards the source of whatever had caused them except for himself of course. During the Chunin exams, that irritation quickly turned to violent anger and then became like cold water dousing the flames of hatred and bringing him back to himself. It was then that he realized that her tears were dangerous. They had that mysterious power to pull him from the darkness so he'd left her behind. He'd worked hard during his years apart from her to create a defense against those tears. Every time he saw her cry after that, he convinced himself that she was crying over something else, anything else but him. He'd convince himself that she was only crying because of her own weakness, because of pain inflicted by someone else, even that her tears were fake, just a ploy to try to get to him. They were all lies of course, part of an elaborate illusion he'd created to protect his selfish ideals from the part of his heart that knew what he was doing was wrong. That part where his bond to both she and Naruto lived in spite of his desires to kill them. When he'd finally been defeated and dragged from the pits of Hell kicking and screaming by Naruto he'd finally let that illusion fade and saw all of her tears for what they were. Expressions of her love for him. He trembled for a moment as the weight of her tears settled in his heart. "Damn it!" he hissed as the anger towards himself rose. "What can I do? What can I do to make up for all the tears you've cried for me?" He pondered the question until his body and mind both gave up and he too fell into a deep sleep.

Naruto shivered under his dew covered blanket and sat up yawning as he did so. He scratched his stomach as he glanced around noting Sai still sleeping near the nearly dead fire and the empty spots where Sasuke and Sakura should've been. Panic spiked in his heart and he jumped to his feet scanning the nearby woods. He was about to call out when he spotted the two missing ninja up against a nearby tree. Sasuke's head was braced against a groove in the tree's trunk his hair covering most of his face. Sakura lay in front of him, her head cradled in his lap with his hand loosely covering hers. The Uzamaki smirked and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Finally!" he murmured. "Maybe if they keep this up I won't have to lock them in room overnight like Kakashi sensei suggested. The tension between them really is annoying as Hell." He muttered before placing wood on the fire. "You know, I brought my camera and I bet Hinata would love to see this." He muttered moving towards his bag.

"I'll kill you if you touch it." The Uchiha hissed his eyes flashing red at the Uzamaki.

Naruto chuckled but complied as Sasuke glanced around clearly trying to decide what to do about the medical ninja sleeping in his lap.

"Just say there Sasuke." Naruto said as he pulled a kettle from his travel bag and poured water from his canteen into it. "She looks comfortable and you wouldn't want to risk waking her up before she needs to be up do you?" Sasuke sighed and nodded even as a blush tinged his cheeks. Naruto smirked. "Lighten up will ya? It's just Sakura. Or is that the whole problem?" he asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Naruto… I swear." Sasuke hissed.

"Ah ah! Don't wake Sakura." The Uzamaki chided. He grinned at the dark look the Uchiha gave him as he heated the water for tea. Sometimes Sasuke was just too fun to tease.

I apologize for the shortness and inferior quality of this chapter. I've got construction going on in my apartment so I haven't been able to focus as much as I'd like to. We're also about to get into the more adventurous side of the story (don't worry. I still intend to have lots of sugary sweetness mixed into the next part) so the next chapters will probably take a bit more time. Please be patient with me and let me know what you think. Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: Here we go diving into the adventure/mission part of the story. Bear with me because in this chapter I'm going to introduce quite a few OC's, and new magic. I promise to make up for it by sprinkling some Sakura and Sasuke sweet moments throughout.

When she awoke that morning, Sakura found herself with her head resting on Sasuke's lap with his coal black eyes peering down at her. "Good morning Sakura. Did you sleep well?" Sasuke asked her as she sat up her face turning red all the way to the tips of her ears.

"Sasuke! Did I-? I'm so sorry." She stammered embarrassed and flustered as her heart thundered in her chest.

"It's fine. You were tired. Stop freaking out." He assured her. His long fingers tapped her lightly in the middle of her forehead and a little smile came to his lips. "Annoying." He teased making her turn an even deeper shade of red.

"Morning Sakura!" Naruto called out waving enthusiastically to her where he was seated with Sai eating instant ramen. "See? I told you she'd sleep for a bit longer Sasuke."

The Uchiha shrugged as he stood, stretched and then walked over to the campfire. "Whatever." He muttered as he rummaged around in his bag for his own breakfast.

"Don't be like that. I know you liked it. It was written all over your face." Naruto said with a smirk.

Sasuke grabbed his sword and smacked the Uzamaki over the head with the sheath, a loud crack resonating through the forest.

"Oww! What the Hell Sasuke!?" Naruto hissed pressing his hands to the now tender spot.

"It's far too early for me to listen to your crap." Sasuke muttered.

Sakura blinked and then dissolved into giggles at the sight smirking when Naruto pouted and Sasuke blushed while Sai looked on his head tilted as he observed the exchange. "Yes. This is how it always should have been." She said softly as she stood and folded Sasuke's blanket walking forward to join her squad.

"We're here." Sasuke said as they approached a village that was clearly in the stages of rebuilding. The four ninja instantly became serious as they surveyed the damage.

"The headman's house should be just a little further ahead." Sakura said glancing at the map given to them by Kakashi.

The villagers observed them from a safe distance whispering to one another and Sasuke knew that it was likely his presence that had them nervous. A young boy of about seven rushed forward to meet them eyeing them with curiosity.

"Are you Ninja?" he asked pointedly.

"We are." Naruto replied squatting down to the child's level. "We're from the hidden leaf." He said tapping the metal plate on his forehead protector. "We're here to find out what happened here so we can stop the bad guy who sent the monster." He explained.

"Oh." The boy replied. "You're probably here to talk to my grandfather. He's the headman. Follow me."

Sasuke watched his best friend in awe. Getting on that child's level so quickly was something he never could've done. They arrived at a house near the middle of the village that had clearly been damaged in the fighting. The boy motioned for them to stop and then dashed inside the gate.

"Grandpa! There's ninja here! They want to talk to you about the monster." He called out as he disappeared through a door.

Moments later, a man dressed in sand colored robes with white hair appeared and motioned for them to enter. They gathered in the man's living room and Sakura handed him a letter written by Kakashi detailing the situation and their reason for being there.

"I see. You want to know what happened to our village." He said as his daughter a pretty woman in her early thirties served tea to the ninja. He took a deep breath and then began to speak. "It happened about one week ago. It had been a normal day just like any other when all of a sudden a terrible roar sounded through the village and Kazuma, our village guard sounded the alarm. I rushed out to see what was happening and found a lion the size of a house attacking some of the men who had gathered arms to defend their families. It was ferocious and took down many men before a figure clad in black from head to toe appeared before it."

"What happened next Lord Headman?" Sakura asked.

"It was strange. The beast immediately quieted and began to growl at the figure though it was obvious it was frightened of the newcomer by the way its ears and tail were positioned. This person then proceeded to throw stakes into the ground around the beast and when it tried to leave, a barrier forced it back." The older man explained. "Then the stranger did something I've never seen in all of my years of living. I'm aware that except for under special circumstances, no person can effectively use all five chakra natures. However, this person used each one in turn on each of the stakes they'd set and then wrote a strange seal with their own blood. After that, the figure began to chant but it wasn't quite chanting, it was prettier, more like singing and the sky appeared to tear in two right above the beast which was immediately sucked in along with the stakes. The hole then closed and there was nothing left of the fearsome creature."

"What an incredible story." Sakura breathed.

The man nodded. "It is. The stranger fell to the ground afterwards and naturally we rushed to help them but a boy that looked to be around the same age as my grandson appeared out of nowhere and told us to stay back. He helped the stranger up and then this masked person proceeded to heal the villagers that had been injured in the attack. We tried to find out the stranger's name but they wouldn't speak to us. Only the boy would and he told us that the stranger didn't wish to be identified but was thankful for our gratitude. Then they both vanished in a puff of smoke similar to how I've seen ninja go over the years."

Sakura jotted down some notes on her copy of the reports and nodded. "Did the boy say anything about where they were going or anything?"

The older man shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I'm sorry."

"That's alright." She assured him. "We're just trying to gather as much information as we can."

"The boy, what did he look like exactly?" Sasuke asked.

The man looked at him his eyes narrowing slightly. "You're Sasuke Uchiha aren't you? Why are you here?"

"I'm here by order of the Hogake." Sasuke replied. "This mission is part of my journey of redemption for all of the suffering I've caused."

The older man paused for a moment and then nodded. "Very well then. Anyway, the boy looked a little strange. He was almost as pale as this fellow here." He said motioning to Sai. "His hair was metallic silver and he had a tall thin build. The strangest thing about him were his eyes though, they were blood red. It was eerie."

"Excuse me sir, would you allow me to show you my true eye color briefly? We're trying to find out if this boy's eyes were similar to mine. I promise not to cast any genjutsu on you. I won't even look you in the eye, that's the only way I could do anything to you at all." Sasuke explained.

The man seemed wary and shied away from the dark haired Uchiha. "I don't know." He admitted.

"Don't worry old man." Naruto spoke up. "If he tries anything, we'll snap you out of it and then beat him senseless." He said with a grin.

The man glanced around at the other ninja and then sighed. "Very well then. If it really will help."

"Thank you sir." Naruto said before turning to the Uchiha. "You heard the man, show him you're 'scary' eyes."

Sasuke shot the Uzamaki a dark look which only made the blonde grin wider before he focused his attention back on the older man. He closed his eyes for a moment, activated his sharringan and then opened them again noting all of the details around him as he did so. He carefully looked at the man but avoided his eyes as promised which he found to be very difficult.

"His eyes weren't like yours." The old man confirmed. Sasuke blinked changing his eyes back to black and bowed to the man. "The color was right but you have a pupil and those tomoes in your eyes. He had neither." He explained.

"Thank you for your help." Sakura said as she made notes in her report. "Do you know anyone who was healed by the stranger? I'd like to take a blood sample from one of them if possible."

The old man nodded. "Of course. My daughter was." He said motioning to the pretty woman in the room.

"Would you mind if I took a sample from you?" Sakura asked.

"Not at all." The woman replied with a smile. "I'll warn you in advance though, I have deep veins that are hard to find."

"No problem." Sakura said moving to the woman's side and helping the woman to tie back the sleeves of her kimono. With practiced speed and skill she wrapped an elastic band around the woman's arm just above the elbow and disinfected the skin in the crook of her arm. She pulled a needle from her bag and gently probed the woman's skin with her fingertips. In a flash she slipped the needle under the woman's skin and the attached vial filled quickly with blood. When it was full, she removed the needle and capped it while simultaneously pressing gauze to the woman's arm and releasing the elastic band. After a couple seconds she place medical tape over the gauze and smiled at the woman. "Your veins aren't any deeper than normal, they're just off center a little. Let your doctor know."

The woman smiled. "So wise for one so young. Thank you."

"Can you tell me anything more about this stranger?" Sakura asked as she labeled the vial. "Anything helps."

The woman thought for a moment. "Well, I believe that the stranger is a woman." She said. "A young one, but still a woman."

"What makes you say that?" The pink haired medic asked as her companions turned their attention to their conversation.

"Their hands." The woman replied. "When they took off their gloves to heal me, I got a good look at them. They were slim and the fingers were long and slender. It also might just be my intuition talking but even that is hardly ever wrong."

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Sakura pressed.

"Their skin was bronze colored." She said her eyes floating towards the top of her head as she pulled on her memory. "Their eyes were lovely. Dark purple with flecks of pink, blue and green near the pupil."

Sakura took down the notes and nodded. "Anything else?"

The woman thought for a moment and then sighed. "I'm afraid not. I tried to talk to them but the boy answered all of my questions." She glanced at the medic. "When I asked where they were going, the boy told me that they were trying to find the stranger's father. I asked where they thought he was and he answered that they thought he might be a ninja from the village hidden in the sand and asked me if I knew how to get there. I told them that all I knew was that it was in the land of wind."

"I see. That makes perfect sense." Sakura said looking at her companions.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Kakashi Sensei was right. They're headed to the land of wind alright."

Sakura wrote down a few more things before nodding to her companions. "Thank you so much for everything." She said bowing deeply.

"If you manage to catch up to that stranger thank you again." She said. "They didn't just save my life but the life growing inside of me." She said touching her belly that was just barely starting to protrude under her robes.

"We will." Naruto promised her before the group of four walked out the door. As they approached the gate, the boy ran after them.

"Wait!" he called out breathing hard. "That boy, his name is Ryuu."

"How do you know?" Sakura asked.

"When his friend was helping my mother I asked him and he told me his name is Ryuu." He explained. "Will that help you?"

"Darn right it will!" Naruto said with a grin. He reached out and affectionately ruffled the kid's hair. "Thanks a lot kid."

The child beamed up at the blonde and then studied them. "You guys fought in the war didn't you?" he asked.

The four of them nodded.

"Thank you." The boy said simply before dashing back inside.

"We should send a report to Kakashi about our findings." Sai said as they followed the main street out of town. "He'll probably have further instructions for us."

Sasuke nodded. "That's a good idea. If they're headed for the Land of Wind there are several routes they could take." He mused.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, and it sounds like they're looking for The Village Hidden in the Sand. If that's the case, he'll have to let Garra know."

Sakura nodded. "I agree." She glanced at Sasuke. "Would you mind summoning a hawk so we can send this to Kakashi Sensei?" she asked holding up a scroll with the blood sample secured in the middle of it.

He nodded his head, bit his thumb and slammed it to the ground. There was a puff of smoke and he took the scroll from Sakura and secured it to the bird's back before sending it off.

"What should we do now?" Naruto asked.

"I say we head to the next village and ask about Ryuu and his companion." Sakura suggested. "A little boy like that would stand out and it's on the fastest route into the Land of Wind."

"True enough." Sai agreed.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Naruto replied.

Sasuke merely nodded and she nodded back. "Alright then, let's get moving." She said.

Sasuke and Sakura walked side by side both quiet as they mulled over the facts of the case in their minds.

"Do you think it's possible that the boy Ryuu is manipulating that stranger?" she asked the Uchiha. "They could even be a puppet."

Sasuke shook his head. "It couldn't be a puppet. Even the best puppet masters have limits. Even if they use human puppets. The stranger was said to use all five chakra natures while fighting the beast. That would be impossible to achieve using a puppet that maintained a humanoid form."

Sakura nodded. "I guess that's true. I remember fighting Sasori and his human puppets were pretty versatile but none of them were able to pull off a feat that huge. I doubt a child could do what he couldn't."

"That doesn't rule out the possibility that the boy might be manipulating the stranger." Saskue said. "Just about anybody can be controlled if you use the right motivation."

Sakura nodded. "That's true too." She touched her hand to her chin and her brow furrowed as she thought. "Then again, it could be the other way around. Maybe the stranger is manipulating Ryuu. The obvious answer is rarely the right one in our world anyway." She said thinking about how everyone had been convinced that the tailed beasts were the villains of their world until learning the truth about how they had been intentionally summoned and used by evil men.

Sasuke nodded and then reached out as Sakura tripped over a tree root and stumbled. "Are you ok?" he asked as she crashed into his chest.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Stupid tree." She muttered tapping her toe on the ground as she adjusted her shoe on her foot.

She looked up at him and Sasuke suddenly became acutely aware of their proximity and position. His hands grasped her biceps steadying her while hers rested on his forearms. When she looked up at him, he could feel her breath on his face and when he looked into her eyes he quickly became lost in the endless pools of green. His breath caught in his throat as she smiled up at him her lips slightly parted and the urge to feel those lips with his own seeped into his being. He tensed and was about to act on that impulse when he suddenly became aware of a pair of blue eyes studying him intently. He jumped and suddenly pushed Sakura away blush tinging his cheeks.

"You should be more careful." He muttered to the pink haired medic before walking swiftly ahead catching up to Sai.

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked as Naruto came up to stand beside her.

"Don't worry about it. Sasuke might be smart when it comes to a lot of stuff, but he's clueless when it comes to love." The blonde said with a smirk.

Sakura chuckled. "This is coming from the guy who had to have his girl snatched by some creepy guy from the moon to figure out his own feelings?"

Naruto blushed and then wrinkled his nose. "Hey! Give me a break Sakura! We both know I'm as dense as a rock most of the time. Sasuke's different though, he's supposed to be the smart one." He glanced at his best friend. "Right now, he's being pretty stupid." He muttered.

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about but we should probably hurry to catch up to them. Those two ice princes will leave us in the dust if we're not quick enough."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go." He said jogging alongside her until they caught up with the rest of their team.

"There's only one room available?" Sasuke asked flabbergasted as he and the rest of his companions stood at the front desk of the only inn in the small town.

"I'm afraid so. It's a suite room though so it has two king sized beds. Four could easily sleep comfortably in those." The inn keeper persisted.

The Uchiha's brow twitched. This was one of the reason's he preferred to travel alone. None of this awkwardness happened.

"We'll take it." The Uzamaki replied quickly slamming the money down on the counter.

"Naruto!" Sasuke protested. The blonde groaned and grabbed the Uchiha by the ear and dragged him away from the rest of the team. "What the Hell?!" Sasuke hissed.

"Listen pretty boy!" Naruto hissed. "I've been Sakura's teammate for a very long time. If you deny her the opportunity to sleep in a warm bed and take a hot bath she'll make you eat dirt. Just deal with it!"

Sasuke thought for a moment and then sighed in defeat. His friend had a good point. They would deal with having one room if it meant keeping their heads from being cracked open by her monster fists.

"Fine!" Sasuke relented.

Sakura took the key from the innkeeper and bounded up the stairs to their room and squealed with delight as she tossed her bag onto the nearest four poster king sized bed and quickly ducked into the bathroom. "I call first dibs on the bath tonight!" she exclaimed a few minutes later.

"Of course." Naruto replied with a grin. "It's all yours."

"We know better than to fight you for that Ugly." Sai agreed.

"Come again!?" she snarled glaring at the pale boy.

"Isn't the view wonderful?" Sai said quickly. "I think I'll draw a picture of it."

"Good idea. After that you can pick the place you want to be buried!" she hissed shaking her fist at the painter.

"Now, now Sakura." Naruto said cautiously reaching towards the pink haired medic. "You know Sai, he just says whatever comes to mind."

She whirled on the blonde. "So, do you agree with him? Do you think I'm ugly too?"

"What? No! Of course not!" Naruto replied quickly. "Even if I did, I wouldn't be stupid enough to say it to your face."

She growled and leapt forward grabbing both of her teammates by their ears and slammed their heads together with a loud crack that left the two ninja laying on the ground clutching their sore craniums. "I'm going into town to see what there is to eat. See you!" she said before leaping out the window and landing lithely on the streets below.

"Damn it Sai! You and your big mouth." Naurto hissed.

"I think yours is bigger than mine." Sai protested. "The same can't be said about what's between your legs though."

Naruto turned tomato red at the comment and then glared at the painting ninja. "Sai  
I swear one of these days I'm going to cut you down to size." He glowered.

"Down to your size?" Sai replied.

"Damn you! Just shut the Hell up!" Naruto growled tackling the pale ninja to the ground.

Sasuke watched the exchange and felt a pang of regret. The three of them were so comfortable together and he felt like an outsider. It was his own fault of course. It had been his choice to leave but seeing his replacement acting like that with Sakura and Naruto made him realize just a little bit what he'd missed out on.

"Hey Sasuke! Will you go and find Sakura and bring her back?" Naruto asked. "I don't think it's the best idea for her to be by herself and you're the only one she won't pummel into the ground right now."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine. I'll be right back." He said approaching the window. He closed his eyes and then opened them again revealing his blood red sharringan and scanned the streets below for his pink haired teammate's chakra signature. After a few minutes, he locked onto it and leapt to the streets below. Moving quickly through the streets, he found her standing near an herb stand talking with the shop keeper with her knees slightly bent. As he approached, a teenaged boy just a year or two younger than he was, grinned and walked past running his hand along her back side as he did so. The Uchiha saw red and moved with blinding speed to the pink haired medic's side. Sakura however reached the boy first and slammed her fist hard into his face sending him flying down the street. She growled and yanked the boy up by his collar.

"Who do you think you are touching me like that?" she demanded.

"It was an accident!" the boy stammered clutching his bleeding nose.

Sakura's grip on the boy slackened a little but Sasuke was there in an instant glaring down at the boy. "Lies." He snarled. "I saw your face. You planned that and enjoyed every second of it."

Sakura glared at the kid for a moment longer before letting him go. "I should really hit you again for lying to me but I'm pretty sure I'd break your jaw if I did." She said before turning towards Sasuke and slipping her hand into his. "Let's go before I change my mind."

As they made their exit, the boy sat up with the help of a friend and gaped at the couple.

"Do you think that guy was her boyfriend?" the boy asked.

"I don't know but if he is you're lucky." His friend replied.

"What do you mean?" the injured boy said as he struggled to stand with his friend's help.

"Don't you see it? That crest on the back of his shirt?" he asked pointing at the red and white fan design. "That's the Uchiha family crest. You just crossed paths with Sasuke Uchiha and you made the mistake of touching his girl. You're lucky to be alive dude."

The perverted teen swallowed nervously. "Yeah."

Sasuke glanced back having heard their conversation and decided to erase any doubt in their minds of his identity and who Sakura belonged to shifting his eyes from black to bloody red just long enough for the teens to recognize it before turning back. He then shook his head at his own thought. Sakura didn't belong to him because he didn't deserve to have her.

The teen's friend shuddered. "Yeah, you better sleep with one eye open tonight."

The teen gulped "Even that wouldn't save me."

Sasuke smirked at their reaction to him earning a strange look from Sakura. "What's up with you?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just enjoying your show." He said quickly earning a blush from her.

"Quiet you!" she muttered. "Why are you here? I thought you were in the room with Naruto and Sai."

"They asked me to come find you." He explained.

She snorted. "I don't need anyone to babysit me. I'm not some weak woman who needs a man to protect her all the time."

"We know that." Sasuke assured her. "It's not you we're worried about, it's the idiots that cross your path and piss you off we worry about."

She opened her mouth to protest but didn't get a chance to speak when high pitched squealing rent the air.

"Oh my gosh! It's Sasuke Uchiha! The snake sannin!" a girl with red hair squealed before running up to them nearly knocking Sakura over in the process. "You're just as handsome as the rumors said." The girl breathed.

Sakura sighed as she retained her balance and pulled her hand free of his as she dusted off her clothes.

"Really? Sasuke Uchiha!" another girl squealed running up to the dark haired boy.

Sasuke cringed as he tried to shake off the girls by not answering their questions. He much preferred the dirty looks and glares he normally received compared to his nonsense. His eyes met Sakura's and he offered her an apologetic shrug which she returned with something that looked suspiciously like disappointment in her eyes. He couldn't tell if she was disappointed with him or with herself but it didn't really matter at the moment. He'd come to find her and bring her back to their hotel so that's what he was going to do.

"I need to go." He said shortly to the girls forming a loose circle around him.

"Don't go!" a female voice whined.

"Stay here! I'll buy you something to eat!" another one purred as hands grabbed at him.

He battled with the two sides of him, the side that wanted to just get out of this mess of females with a single leap, scoop up Sakura and run and the part of him that demanded he be polite and slip away from the twittering fan girls without causing a scene and then run off with Sakura. The boldest girl he'd ever met moved in front of him grabbed his face and began to pull it to her own. Panic flooded his system as every cell in his body rejected the girl's advance as he struggled out of her grip. He felt the instinct to grab his sword but fought it trying his best to not cause a scene.

"It's just a kiss." The girl protested grabbing for him again.

His chakra flared as his patience hung by a thread. Damn these fan girls and their annoying ways. He stopped for a moment, not it wasn't annoying, the word was far too tepid. Their advances were irritating, revolting. There was only one girl that he'd ever had the desire to kiss and it sure as hell wasn't the lusty blue haired girl trying to sexually assault him in the middle of the street.

A flash of pink caught his attention and he was relieved when Sakura's small but strong hand wrapped around his arm and pulled him backwards as she put herself between him and the octopus of a fan girl.

"If it's really just a kiss, why don't you go find some willing victim instead?" Sakura said glaring at the girl.

"What's it to you bitch?" the girl demanded putting her hands on her hips. "It's none of your business."

"It is my business because you're trying to sexually assault my teammate in the middle of the street you nasty, desperate, oblivious, fan girl." Sakura snarled.

The girl staggered back shocked by the pink haired medic's words. "It.. it wasn't like that. I wasn't assaulting him. I was just trying to kiss him." She protested.

"Did he show any indication that he wanted to kiss you? Do you have a history together that would indicate that he holds any sort of romantic feelings for you?" Sakura asked pointedly.

"Well… I…." the girl stammered.

"When you put your filthy hands all over him, did he move closer or did he push you away?" Sakura continued without missing a beat.

"He... Well…" the girl muttered.

"If some strange man had done to you what you just did to him, would you have called it assault?" Sakura demanded.

"That's…"

"It's a yes or no question!" Sakura snapped. "Answer it!"

"Yes." The girl squeaked.

"Damn right it is!" The pink haired medic growled.

Sasuke stood in awe of his teammate. He'd half expected her to punch the girl but this, it was even more effective. He hadn't asked her to come and help him but she had anyway and told the girl exactly what he wanted her to know. Her maturity and strength continued to amaze him. He could easily see why she was often compared to her teacher Lady Tsunade, she wouldn't have put up with that scene either. "Sakura." He said quietly. She turned to meet his gaze with her eyes blazing and he realized how much she really wanted to punch the girl in spite of her relatively calm exterior. "Let's get out of here." He said pulling her into his arms and leaping up to the roof tops.

"Sasuke! Put me down." She demanded.

"No." he replied. "If I do, you'll be tempted to go beat that blue haired girl."

She glared at him. "What are you saying?! Do you wish I hadn't stepped in or something? Did you want her to kiss you? If you wanted that so much you-"

"Thank you." He said interrupting her angry rant.

She stopped and looked up at him. "I really appreciate it. I don't really know how to deal with people and fan girls have always driven me crazy. That blue haired one was the boldest one so far. If you hadn't intervened I probably would've ended up in trouble for pushing a poor girl to the ground."

Sakura snorted. "Yeah. She would've brought out the water works and everything to save her own skin."

Sasuke nodded as he worked his way towards the inn. "Did you find a place to eat?" he asked trying to change the subject and ease the anger out of her.

"Well, I walked past a noodle house." She said tapping her chin. When he cringed she smiled. "But further down the street was a sushi bar."

"Thank heaven." He breathed.

She snickered as he jumped one last time landing on the banister of their room. The pair walked inside to find Sai sitting against one of the walls sketching in a notepad while Naruto was sprawled out across one of the beds smiling at a photograph in his hands.

"Aww! How sweet Naruto!" Sakura said as she bounced on the bed next to him slipping the photo of Hinata from his fingers.

"Shut it Sakura!" He hissed snatching it back while his cheeks turned bright red. "What took you guys so long?" he demanded as he stuffed it into his shirt pocket.

"Sakura decided to beat up a couple of perverts." Sasuke said in a matter of fact tone.

"Liar. I punched one and lectured the other." She protested. "Anyway, I found a sushi bar that looked good. Does that sound good for dinner?"

Sai's eyes lit up at the mention of one of his favorite foods. "Really? I wasn't expecting to find a place like that here."

She smiled and nodded. "I figured it would probably be our last chance to have it before heading to the Land of Wind."

"You were thinking of me?" Sai asked his head tilted a little with his confusion.

"Yes." She said with a smile. "I owe you for that sucker punch during our training session."

Sasuke shook his head, this woman was so selfless. He couldn't remember the last time she put herself first.

"I'm going to take a bath before we go out if that's alright." She said grabbing her bag of toiletries from her travel pack.

"Go ahead." Naruto said. "It's all yours."

As she closed the bathroom door Sasuke couldn't help but notice how Sai and Naruto both smiled. Something clicked in his brain and he smirked. "I get it now." He murmured as he heard the water run and Sakura humming a little tune. "You actually want her to take a bath first because it's one of the only things she does for herself, am I right?"

Naruto and Sai both blinked and then chuckled and nodded.

"I never thought about it like that, but yeah." Naruto replied.

"She deserves that much for putting up with Naruto all of the time." Sai replied.

"Hey! You're way more annoying than I am." The blonde hissed.

Sasuke leaned against the wall as his mind whirled. This was Sai and Naruto's way of giving back to Sakura and thanking her for all of her hard work. He wondered what he could do to thank her for everything she'd done for him since he'd arrived back in the village. He had recently come to terms with the fact that though he would never stop trying, he'd never truly be able to make up for the years that he had been away chasing his vendetta. However, he could start repaying her for what she was doing for him now. He just wasn't sure what do give her or do for her at the moment.

"So there are only two beds here. What are we going to do about that?" Naruto remarked.

Sasuke blinked in surprise and focused his attention on his blonde haired friend. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I can't sleep with Sakura." Naruto said in a matter of fact tone. "The same thing happens every time. I smack her in my sleep, she wakes up and punches me in the face. It's just a nightmare." He said scrubbing his hands over his face clearly recalling painful nights.

"Sakura and I have no trouble sleeping together." Sai replied in the same matter of fact tone. "She tosses and turns at first but once she actually falls asleep she doesn't move and I don't move at all once I lay down."

"Yeah, you sleep like a dead man. It's actually really creepy." Naruto agreed shuddering a little. "What do you think Sasuke? Do you want to sleep with Sakura or do you want Sai to sleep with her?"

The Uchiha blinked dumbfounded by the entire conversation. It was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever been a part of in his entire life. It all sounded so… dirty. Of course it was just part of being a ninja to share sleeping quarters and beds but to hear about Sakura sleeping with other men on a regular basis out loud was just unsettling in a way that made his stomach churn. He knew it was literally only sleeping in the purest sense of the word but it still irritated him. In his mind, there really was no reason any of them needed to sleep with Sakura. The three of them could probably fit into the king sized bed. It wouldn't be comfortable but it was better than any of them sleeping with their only female companion.

"I don't think any of us should sleep with her." He said. "It's a large bed, all three of us could fit if we needed too."

"Are you sure Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "I really am a messy sleeper and Sai might sleep like the dead but that means that if you need to move him in the middle of the night you're screwed because he either won't budge or he'll wake up and try to kill you."

"That happened once Naruto and I told you I was sorry." Sai replied with a long suffering sigh.

"Well excuse me for having trouble forgetting about the time I tried to wake you up and ended up on my back with a kunai at my throat!" The blonde snapped before turning back to Sasuke. "Nobody is going to want to sleep in the middle and you know it."

Sasuke sighed raking a hand through his ebony hair. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that he was being forced into a corner and he didn't like it, not one bit.

"You and Sasuke haven't had a chance to sleep together since the war ended. Why not take this opportunity?" Sai suggested.

Sasuke's brow twitched with irritation, there was no way in Hell he was going to let his replacement sleep with Sakura and sleeping with Naruto was torture. He'd learned that after being stuck to the idiot for three days during their genin days. The only one he trusted to sleep beside her and not try anything was himself and the whiskered idiot but the latter had already declared that it wasn't going to happen.

"Fine! I'll sleep with her!" he spat out irritated at the smirk and giggles that Naruto tried to hide behind his hand.

"Sleep with who?" Sakura said as she stepped out of the bathroom dressed in her normal ninja gear again minus the arm and legs warmers, her hands rubbing a towel through her hair to dry it.

Sasuke couldn't help the blush that came to his cheeks fueled by embarrassment at being caught saying such a misleading thing. He cleared his throat and forced the stoic mask he usually wore onto his face before he spoke again. "We were just discussing the sleeping arrangements for tonight." He explained.

"I'll sleep with anyone but Naruto." The pink haired medic blurted out quickly. A blush soon colored her cheeks at her own words and she chuckled nervously. "Anyway! The bath is free. There's probably time for one more person to take one before we head out for dinner."

"I'll go next." Sai said grabbing a neat bundle of clothes from his bag. "I shouldn't take long."

"Ok." Sakura said with a wave before she flopped down on the bed next to Naruto. "So what did you guys decide?"

"Sai's with me." Naruto said as he rolled to his back resting his head on his hands.

"He must have drawn the short straw." She mused.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when there was a tap at the window immediately drawing the three experienced shinobi's attention from their conversation and setting them on high alert. The all visibly relaxed when they recognized what was at the window.

"Looks like your hawk made it back." Naruto said as the Uchiha opened the window and the bird of prey glided inside with a scroll tied to its back.

As Sasuke worked to relieve the bird of his burden, Sakura moved closer to study the animal. "He's so beautiful." She murmured.

"Are you saying what I summon isn't?" Naruto asked.

"Well, you summon toads so…" she replied.

"So what? You're the new freaking slug queen." The blonde haired man replied haughtily.

"Yeah I am. Did you know that my slugs could reduce you to bubbling pile of nothing with acid toad boy?" she replied.

"Really? They can shoot acid? I had no idea. That is so cool!" Naruto replied his eyes widening.

The bird now relieved of his charge vanished with a soft pop and Sasuke unrolled the message his eyes scanning over it quickly.

"What does it say?" Sakura asked moving to stand behind him to read the message over his shoulder.

"The blood sample is still being analyzed but so far there are no signs of the new chakra being dangerous to the patients or having and malicious properties." He replied.

"That's good news." Sakura said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Since it appears this new threat is headed to the Land of Wind, he's informed Lord Garra. The Kazikage has since requested that we go to The Village Hidden in the Sand to meet with him in person to discuss what we know and so that he can provide us with a team of sand ninja to guide us through The Land of Wind." Sasuke continued.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "I can't wait! Garra and I have a lot of catching up to do."

Sasuke shook his head. "I never imagined you two would end up so close." He muttered.

"Well yeah, I mean we're friends now and besides, I'm going to be Hokage one day soon so being on good terms with the Kazikage is a huge advantage right?" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"We should be able to make it there in two days if we go at a decent pace." The Uchiha mused touching his hand to his chin. He wasn't really comfortable with the idea of meeting with the Kazikage. He and Garra had never been on good terms and he knew the red haired man didn't trust him. The trek across the desert also had him worried, there wasn't much in the way of cover and it made them vulnerable to enemy attacks. With a mystery person rumored to have incredible power and terrifying beasts both at large, the idea of being that exposed didn't sit well with him.

Sakura nodded. "I agree." And then to his surprise, she took the scroll from him and rolled it back up placing it in her bag. "Sai will be out in a couple of minutes and you're getting that look on your face when you start to worry. Let's go out and enjoy dinner and then when we get back you can worry, strategize, and plan as much as you want, ok?"

Sasuke blinked once again amazed at her sense of perception and then nodded. "Very well then. I suppose that's acceptable."

"Excellent." She said as Sai exited the bathroom shaking the excess water from his hair. "Now let's go get some sushi! I'm starving. Although, I vote we travel by rooftop."

"Why is that?" Sai asked.

"There's a certain blue haired young woman I'd like to avoid if at all possible." Sakura replied.

"Why?" Naruto inquired.

"Don't worry about it." Sasuke replied.

"Fine, but if we're doing it that way, it's a race. The last one to the sushi bar buys." Naruto said with a grin as Sakura pointed out the restaurant on a map of the town left in their room.

"Sounds good to me." Sasuke replied as the four ninja assembled on the balcony their eyes focused on the roof top of their target across the village.

"Ready? Go!" Sakura cried and in a flash, the race was on.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who has favorited, viewed, reviewed and followed this story! I really like where this story is going and I'm glad to see so many who feel the same way! In this chapter there's a super sugary piece of sweetness, so look forward to it! P.S. I re-watched Naruto The Last and once again ended up frustrated at the lack of Sakura and Sasuke moment. Common Kishimoto! Throw us SakuraxSasuke shippers a bone here! Rant over, now let's get back to the story.

"I won!" Naruto declared loudly as he dropped to the ground in front of the sushi bar. His face promptly fell when he found Sai already standing inside with Sasuke by his side.

"Sorry. The only one you beat was me." Sakura said dropping down beside him.

"Damn it." Naruto hissed.

"Don't worry about it." She replied with a smile hooking her arm around his neck. "Let's go eat."

The four shinobi attracted quite a lot of attention as they ate together in one of the booths near the back of the restaurant. For starters, each member of the team was in good shape, it was a given in their line of work but it definitely made them easier on the eyes. Sai was the handsome, stoic type with his generally expressionless face but surprisingly angelic smile. Naruto with his blonde hair, blue eyes and sunny smile was warm and approachable. Sasuke was dark and mysterious with classic good looks. Sakura was pretty and petite with a cheery smile and exotic pink hair. Then there was the fact that the latter three were the new sannin and the four of them together along the Hokage Kakashi made up the legendary team seven who had not only ended the war, but saved the world. Though their faces were not recognized everywhere, their names were and all it took was one nosy person listening in on their conversation to get all the attention they'd ever wanted and then some. Given their reputations, it didn't take long before the little shop was teeming with people desperate to catch a glimpse of the war heroes.

"I miss the days when you could proclaim loudly that you were Naruto Uzamaki and no one cared." Sakura murmured as the four of them headed back to their room via roof top again to avoid their enthusiastic fans.

"Things were simpler back then." Sai admitted.

"I kind of miss it too." The blonde agreed.

Sakura chuckled at the Uzamaki's response. Out of habit she glanced down and noticed a flash of silver hair on the head of someone that seemed too small and quick to have it and changed her course landing on the street instead of the next roof top.

"Sakura?" Sasuke questioned looking back at where she'd been up until a moment ago.

"Excuse me!" Sakura called out as she jogged down a side ally to catch up to the figure. The stranger glanced back and she managed to catch a glimpse of red eyes and ran harder desperate to catch up. "Wait! Come back! Are you Ryuu?" she called out.

The child stilled and turned to face her. Sakura could hardly believe her eyes, the boy was beautiful with porcelain skin, metallic silver hair that hung down to his elbows with a fringe of bangs covering his forehead. His eyes were red with a ring of magenta around the outside of the iris as he stared unblinkingly at her his expression guarded. He was dressed in a black tunic with silver trim paired with white pants that ended a couple of inches before his ankles. Black sandals similar to the style worn by shinobi adorned his feet. She thought for a moment that he looked like a doll especially when he stood still.

"How do you know my name? I can't recall ever meeting you in the past." the boy questioned and she was surprised at how smooth and refined his speech was given his young appearance.

"I'm a shinobi from the hidden leaf village." She explained. "I've heard all about you and your friend. You've been going around rescuing people from monsters right? I'd like to talk with you both if you don't mind." She said with a smile.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "I do mind. You will only hurt us just like all the others." He said his tone sad and just a touch bitter. "Stay away from us!"

"Ryuu. Is something wrong?" a musical, feminine voice spoke from the shadows. Sakura watched as a form began to materialize and a figure clad head to toe in black with vivid purple eyes with flecks of blue, green and pink near the pupil appeared. A black mask similar to the kind Kakashi wore covered most of the figure's face and a black scarf covered their forehead and hid any hair from her view. The person was taller than she was by a couple of inches and had a slender build from what she could see under the unisex clothing.

"Stay back! This woman is a ninja from the village hidden in the leaves." The boy exclaimed moving to stand protectively in front of the stranger.

"Is she now?" the figure replied. They closed their eyes for a moment and then spoke. "I understand. Sakura Haruno, disciple of the fifth Hokage Tsunade. A medical ninja bearing the rare mark of 100's healings and wielder of monstrous strength. Also a member of the new legendary Sannin that ended the fourth great ninja war. The woman in love with the last member of the Uchiha clan and best friends with the legendary nine tails jinchuriki. A woman with a nearly unbreakable spirit who would sacrifice everything to protect the ones she holds dear." The figure sighed. "Such a lovely soul you have."

Sakura paled and took a step back. How did this person know everything about her?

The stranger opened their eyes again and observed the nervousness on the shinobi's face. "Don't be alarmed." They said. "I have no quarrel with you. I'd appreciate it if you didn't pursue us though."

"Sakura!" Sasuke called out dropping to the ground beside her. "What's going on?" he glanced up and studied the two figures his eyes blood red as he activated his sharringan. "Are they-?"

She quickly nodded understanding his question without needing to hear him finish.

The figure studied Sasuke for a moment their eyes briefly narrowing before they sighed. "That's an Uchiha for you. They have such a nasty habit of ruining things." The figure suddenly turned their face skyward tension forming in their body. "Ryuu."

"I understand." He replied. "I'll tell you once more. Stay away from us!"

The masked figure put their hand on Ryuu's shoulder and pulled him back against them patting his head affectionately. "That's enough Ryuu." They said softly before turning their attention to the two shiniobi. "Sorry but we have business elsewhere to attend to. It was a pleasure to finally meet you in person Sakura Haruno. I'm sure our paths will cross again." and with that the two vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Damn." Sasuke cursed as he stared at the spot. "They're gone already." He turned back to Sakura who was white as a sheet. "What's wrong? Did they do anything to you? Are you hurt?" he asked scanning her body with his unique eyes searching for anything wrong with her body or her chakra.

"That person…. They knew everything." She murmured.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"They knew my name, my teacher, my relationship with you and Naruto. They told me that I have a lovely soul almost as if they could see it or something. It's unnerving. I almost feel violated." She admitted.

Sasuke's expression hardened as he reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Do you think they could've used a genjutsu on you?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I didn't sense any chakra being used at the time and they closed their eyes. Most genjutsu is controlled thorough the eyes so I can't imagine that being the case. I'm immune to most genjutsu anyway. You would know using your sharringan wouldn't you?"

He nodded and checked her with his advanced sight once again. "I don't see or sense any justsu being used on you." He conceded. "What else did they say to you?" he asked.

"Ryuu told me to stay away because he thinks we'll hurt them." She said.

"Well if they're causing trouble, then that will be the case." Sasuke replied.

"That wasn't the feeling I was getting from him." She replied. "It was more genuine than that. A child's fear of being separated from one they care about."

Sasuke looked at her and then at the spot where the figures had stood. "What do you think we should do?" he asked.

"Let's get back and tell the others what happened. Then we'll figure out a plan and sleep for the night. We still need to go over all of the information Kakashi sent us as well as our new orders." Sakura said working to shake off the shock the two strangers had given her.

"You're right. Let's go." Sasuke agreed jumping with her back up to the roof tops and quickly arriving back in their room at the inn.

"What happened to you two?" Naruto asked bounding forward. "I was starting to get worried."

"Perhaps they just wanted to be alone for a moment." Sai offered from where he sat at the table in the room with a pencil in hand sketching in his book. A little mischievous smile playing at his lips.

Sakura turned pink at the implication. "No! It wasn't like that at all." She insisted. "We actually ran into the red eyed boy and the masked stranger."

Naruto and Sai both turned their attention to her their expressions suddenly serious.

"I take it that they escaped before you were able to capture them?" Sai said as he put his sketch pad away.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I'll tell you everything they said and did. It might not be important but its best everyone knows."

After recounting all that had happened word for word, the group sat in silence for a few moments as they all mulled over the information in their minds trying to come up with explanations for everything that had been spoken.

"It seems that these two are pretty well informed as far as our identities are concerned." Sai mused.

"That's not really too surprising though." Naruto argued. "We are pretty famous, all of the information they told you was stuff they could've picked up by researching. The stuff about your personality could just be their own opinion of you based on what they've heard too."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know if that's exactly it. The way they closed their eyes like that and paused. It can't really explain it because I can't see chakra or anything like that but I just got the sense that they were tapping into some sort of power or using some sort of ability."

Naruto nodded. "It's possible, but it definitely wasn't some sort of genjutsu that had been used on you because you're mostly immune to that sort of stuff and Sasuke would've noticed right away." He looked over at the Uchiha. "You used your sharringan before they got away, right?" he asked. When the raven haired man nodded, he continued. "Were you able to get a peek at their chakra before they took off?"

Sasuke nodded. "I did but it was very brief. The boy's chakra was much stronger than it should have been given his age but it didn't look abnormal other than that."

The three ninja nodded and Sakura took down some notes. "What about the other one?" she asked.

His eyes narrowed slightly "That one is a bit more difficult." He admitted. "Something seemed to be distorting my vison when I tried to see their chakra."

Sakura, and Naruto's eyes widened while Sai's narrowed. "Your vision was distorted? How can that be?" Naruto asked. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Neither did I." Sasuke admitted. "I was about to activate my rinnegan when they left."

"Well that's disturbing." Sai said. "The Uchiha's eyes are legendary and thought to be almost infallible. Someone or something powerful enough to distort your powerful eyesight must be very dangerous."

Sasuke nodded his brow furrowed and his eyes dark. "I was able to make out something though." He replied. "In the middle of their chest I saw what seemed to be a seal. I think it might be part of what was distorting my vision."

"A seal? Could they have one of those beasts sealed inside of them?" Naruto asked. "It would make the enormous amount of power they poses while fighting the beasts seem a little more realistic."

"Does Kurama know of any more beasts besides the tailed beasts that would need to be sealed away or anything like that?" Sai asked.

Naruto closed his eyes and was quiet for a few minutes as he conversed with the fox locked within his body. Sakura always thought it a little odd to know that another being was inside the same body as her best friend especially when they conversed like this but it was getting easier to accept over time. After a few moments he opened his eyes again.

"Kurama says that the he doesn't believe the stranger is carrying around one of the tailed beasts inside of them because if that was the case, Sasuke would've had no problem seeing them." He replied. "He said that the story reminded him of a mysterious clan with incredible power that existed many years ago. They were beast tamers that had the rare ability to force any summoned creature back to their place of origin regardless of who had summoned them."

"Wow! What incredible power." Sakura breathed. "It would've been nice if they'd been around when Madara made all of that trouble."

Naruto's eyes widened at her words. "Wait a second. Didn't this person say they knew about the Uchiha name?" he asked Sasuke.

"Yes. They said something about how Uchiha's ruining everything." He replied.

"One second." Naruto said closing his eyes once more. After a few moments he opened them again his eyes wide. "Kurama said that he's fairly certain that the only reason the tamers didn't come to help when he was first summoned was because they couldn't."

"What do you mean they couldn't?" Sakura asked.

"He's not sure but said that it's the only thing that makes sense. He thinks there's a possibility Madara had them annihilated."

The room became very quiet as the words sank in.

Sasuke lowered his head and clenched his hands into fists briefly. Sakura sighed as she looked over at him, she knew he was probably frustrated with this new development. His clan's curse of hatred had created so much pain and sorrow over the years which Sasuke, the only surviving member of the clan now carried on his shoulders. She resisted the temptation to reach out and rub out the tension she saw in his broad shoulders as Naruto spoke again.

"Well we won't know for sure until we catch up with the guy and ask them." Naruto said in his cheerful way. "I vote we go over all the boring stuff Kakashi sent us really fast and then hit the hay so we can be ready to go first thing tomorrow."

"Good idea." Sakura said going to her bag and pulling out the scroll. "Let's get to work."

Nearly two hours later, the four shinonbi had decided that they would make their way to The Village Hidden in the Sand while simultaneously tracking the chakra belonging to Ryuu. Since they were headed to the same place, they figured their chances of running into the duo was fairly high.

Team seven then laid down to bed and Sasuke decided to lay on top of the blankets next to Sakura despite her protests. He'd already made up his mind to move to the floor the moment she fell asleep to avoid any awkwardness and just claim that he'd fallen off in the middle of the night and was too lazy to get back into bed if anyone asked. Sakura's breathing began to even out and slow and Sasuke was surprised when she turned away from the window and towards him as she finally drifted off to sleep. She'd faced the window up until that point likely out of a desire to respect him and give him the space she knew he wanted both emotionally and physically. Now that she was asleep however, she subconsciously turned towards him curling up against his side like a cat. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and smirked as he remembered the time that the original team seven had worn cat ears to infiltrate the headquarters of the famous ninja cats. He'd never admitted it aloud to anyone, but she'd actually looked quite cute with the ears on. His fingers lightly traced over where the ears had once rested before he frowned and slipped out of bed. He walked silently to the doors leading to their balcony and pushed it open. He jumped to the banister and then back flipped up to sit on the roof his gaze fixed on the moon that was crescent shaped.

He had grown up with fierce pride in his family name and his clan. They were powerful people with influence, intelligence, and strength that was renowned all over the world. He'd fought desperately to avenge them, given up years of his life in pursuit of the power to do so only to find out that in the end, they had been a clan cursed with hatred and an almost unquenchable thirst for power. The more he learned of their history the more uncertain he became. His new goal since the war had been to eventually revive his clan but now… He wasn't sure if the world needed any more Uchiha's given how much trouble and destruction they seemed to cause. He was pulled from thought by the sound of clothes rustling in the wind and the soft tap of feet landing on the roof next to him.

"Found you." Sakura said with a small smile. She held out a mug of warm herbal tea to him which he took before she settled down beside him with her own mug in hand and sipped it.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her cringing when the words came out harsher than he intended. "I mean, shouldn't you be resting up? Tomorrow we're going to pick up the pace quite a bit." He said trying to sound less irritated.

"I could say the same to you." She replied simply.

He didn't really know how respond to that so he said nothing choosing instead to sip on the tea she'd given him. It was perfect, not too sweet or bitter and the warmth was surprisingly comforting.

"You're worrying about what Kurama said today aren't you?" she said after a few minutes comfortable silence.

He nodded. There was no point trying to lie to her at this point. She'd just beat it out of him anyway.

"You know, I've never quite understood why people get so hung up on the past." She admitted.

He glanced over at her surprised by the comment. "Why do you say that?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Well it's in the past isn't it? It can't be changed." She took a sip of her tea and then continued. "When I was training with Tsunade I assisted her with a long surgery on a shiniobi that had been caught in a trap while on a mission. He was half dead by the time we entered the operating room and had lost a lot of blood. We worked for ten hours to save his life but in the end, it wasn't enough." She bowed her head at the memory. "I'd seen him around before. He was a friend of my father's. When he flat-lined, I couldn't believe it. We'd done everything right but he just didn't make it. I ran away from the operating room without even bothering to take off by gown. I ended up in the park on the bench where you left me cursing my uselessness again. Adding his face to the list of people I was too weak to save. Tsunade found me and asked me if I wanted to quit training under her. I told her no and she told me to get up and follow her back to the hospital. I did and she dragged me right back into the operating room where another shinobi who had been caught in a similar trap was and told me to take the lead. I told her I was afraid and she snapped at me. She said 'Sakura! It's impossible to save everyone. Life just doesn't work that way. The only thing that's worse than that is not saving the next person because you're afraid of losing again. Get it together help me save this man!'." She chuckled at the memory of her mentor lecturing her in the middle of surgery with all of the assistants looking on nervously. "After that surgery she pulled me aside and said that the past didn't define me as a medic or as a person. She said 'Just because you lost a patient today doesn't mean you're an unskilled medic. All you can do is learn from it and vow to do your best to save the life of the next patient that receives treatment by your hands.'"

He nodded. "I suppose that's true but I'm different from you. I've done so many horrible things to so many people. I don't even remember all of the faces of the people I've killed. What kind of monster does that make me?" he asked.

Sakura reached over and touched his face using just the slight pressure of her finger tips to turn his face towards hers. "Sasuke, you were never a monster. You were a boy who had the people you loved most ripped from your life by the hands of the person you looked up to more than anyone else in the world and left all alone. A boy who didn't know what to do with the pain he was feeling and turned to vengeance because there was no one to guide you in a different direction. An evil man with dark desires caught you and gave you the power you so desperately wanted in exchange for the life you knew. The price seemed fair enough for you because you'd already lost everyone you cared for once so what did it matter if you lost them again right?" she said as she looked into his eyes. He clenched his fist to prevent his trembling and was unable to look away as she continued. "For years this man fueled the darkness and hatred festering inside you knowing it would turn you into the perfect vessel to carry out his own selfish plans. Then you left before he took you and put your plan for revenge into action. However, the deeper you got, the more you realized that things were much bigger than you'd ever imagined and your hatred only grew. You were used again and again by vile men who desired your power for themselves bound by a curse you never knew you carried. I think there came a point where you didn't even recognize yourself anymore." His eyes widened at her words, how did she know? Her expression softened. "Yes you did horrible things. Yes you nearly destroyed the world and almost killed everyone who ever mattered to you." He cringed and shut his eyes against the pain. It was true. Naruto, Kakashi, even her he'd nearly killed in his rage. "But the point is that you didn't. You saved the world, and everyone important to you survived and that's what matters." She said softly. "You even managed to break the curse that plagued your clan for generations." He opened his eyes and found her emerald ones staring at him with tears slipping down her cheeks. "I understand if you hate the man you were. To be honest, I didn't like him all that much either. However you're a different man now. You've been saved Sasuke, and that means you have the freedom to become the man you always wanted to be, the one Naruto, Kakashi, Itachi and I always knew you could be. We are all proud of you." His eyes widened as she leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to his forehead, the place where Itachi had always tapped him. "Thank you for finally coming back to us." She murmured her voice thick with emotion. "Please come back inside and get some sleep when you're ready." She said before sliding from the roof and disappearing back into their room.

His entire body was trembling as her words sank in. The thought that he was a new man, a man that she, Naruto and even Itachi were proud of was overwhelming. He glanced up at the moon again as a single tear slipped from his eye and he lifted his hand tapping himself in the same place where her lips had touched him just a moment ago. A little weight seemed to be lifted from his burdened, broken heart by her words.

"Thank you Sakura. For everything." He murmured before he lifted his mug and downed the rest of its contents and leapt onto the balcony slipping silently back into the room. To his surprise, at the side of the bed he was supposed to be sharing with Sakura, he found a large amount of blakets including the thick comforter, had been made into a makeshift futon on the floor. A small stack of pillows sat at one end and a note lay on top of them.

"I know you're not used to sleeping with people so I thought this might help since I know you'd never left me get away with sleeping on the floor." It read.

He shook his head and glanced at his pink haired teammate who was snuggled beneath the sheets. "Silly girl." He muttered with a smirk as he moved closer to check on her. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply clearly fast asleep. It occurred to him that he had either spent a lot longer on the roof after she left than he thought, or that she was much more tired than she appeared. His gaze settled on her face and as he glanced at her mouth, he remembered the warm, soft sensation of her lips on his forehead and felt a little heat come to his cheeks at the memory. It was the first time someone outside his family had kissed him in such a way and he had to admit that he'd really liked it though he also knew it had more to do with the one doing the kissing and less with the kiss itself. He was fairly certain if Naruto had done the same thing he would've punched the whiskered idiot in the face regardless of the reason behind it. Sakura turned in her sleep so that she was facing up and sighed startling him.

"Cha!" she muttered sleepily her brow furrowing a little and he suppressed a chuckle as he imagined who the poor soul she'd just decked in her dream was. Slowly so that he wouldn't wake her, he leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers closing his eyes as he felt her warm skin against his own. He took a deep breath as he thought of how grateful he was to her, how much he cared about her, and the desire growing in his heart to be by her side always. After a few moments he pulled away and slipped into his makeshift bed and finally allowed himself to rest drifting into a deep sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing, and following this story! I'm so thrilled with the success this story had been having. Ahead we have an epic battle, more banter, and hopefully figure out who the heck that werido with Ryuu is.

Morning came faster than Sasuke wanted and he squinted at the morning rays a little groan escaping his throat as he sat up.

"So, it appears that like Naruto, you are not a morning person." Sai said from the table he was seated at sipping on a cup of coffee with three more sitting un-touched on the table.

The Uchiha blinked at the painter's observation and then shrugged. "I guess not." He admitted as he got to his feet and quickly noticed Sakura missing from the bed. His gaze traced the room noting her gear still intact and the blonde Uzamaki snoring loudly his arms wrapped around a pillow.

"Sakura is in the bathroom. She should be out shortly." Sai said surprising the Uchiha. Was he that obvious or was Sai just that perceptive.

"Oh ok. Thanks." He said stretching before he began to toss the blankets he'd used for his bed the night before back on the king sized bed where they belonged.

"This one is for you." Sai said pushing one of the white cups towards him. It had the Uchiha mark on the lid and he guessed that the painter had probably drawn it himself. "I'm not familiar with how you take your coffee so I just got the regular stuff and brought cream and sugar if you want any." He said motioning to the bag on the table.

Sasuke was surprised by the act of kindness as he moved forward and picked up the cup. "Thank you. To be honest I prefer my coffee black but I don't drink it often." He replied.

"Good to know." Sai said with a little smile.

Sakura came out of the bathroom then clad in her ninja wear and glanced at the cups on the table instantly grinning as she walked across the room to where the pair of pale faced ninja were congregating. "Sai! You bought coffee? I didn't see a shop in town." She said as she grabbed the cup with the Haruno crest on it and sniffed it before grinning at the painter and taking a sip wincing a little as it went down. "Red eye with a one sugar and one cream. I love you Sai."

The painter chuckled, "I just know what you like Sakura. I owe you for the sushi yesterday."

Sakura smiled and nudged Sai with her shoulder. "Don't be like that Sai. If we keep score that way we'll never break even. I haven't given you enough pain to make up for all the time you've called me ugly." She said with a wink.

Sasuke watched the exchanged and made a mental note that she liked red eye with one cream and one sugar. It occurred to him that he wasn't really sure what a red eye was and leaned towards Sai.

"I've never been much of a coffee drinker so I don't know what I red eye is." He admitted. "Would you tell me?" he asked.

Sai chuckled. "It's the sucker punch of the coffee world in my opinion. Black coffee with a shot of espresso."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Do you have any idea how much caffeine that is?" he exclaimed as he watched Sakura put down her cup and march over to the last member of their team leaning down to get into the blonde's face intent on waking him up.

"I do. It's astounding but I guess that's how she manages to work as hard and as long as she does." Sai remarked.

Sasuke sighed as he watched Naruto received sucker punch to the face. "Doesn't she know that's not good for her body?" he muttered. "That mark of hers…"

Sai nodded. "I know that, we all do. She'd only get angry with her if we tried to stop her though."

Sasuke nodded, the mark of 100's healing required intense chakra control but also shortened the bearer's life span. That along with pushing herself to the limit with long work hours that she clearly needed a major boost of caffeine to get through made him worry for her health. The Uchiha was pulled out his thought by the sound of his name and rolled his eyes as Naruto called out to him.

"Sasuke! Save me! Sakura is going to kill me!" He exclaimed.

"Well, maybe you should double check to make sure the girl in your face is Hinata before trying to steal a kiss." Sasuke replied in a bored tone.

"Shut up! You're just jealous that I've actually kissed a girl!" he exclaimed as he dodged another one of Sakura's punches.

Sasuke sighed. "Keep telling yourself that." He said leaping across the room and catching Sakura's fist as she threw another punch at the blonde. "We're already running late. Can you beat him up later?"

Sakura blushed which made him smirk and pulled her hand from his. "Fine! Get ready to go Naruto! If you don't hurry it up, I'll tell Hinata exactly what happened." She threatened.

The Uzamaki paled a little as he grabbed his bag and scrambled for the bathroom. "Ok! I'm going!" he complained.

Sakura let out a little. "Humph!" and walked over to where her coffee was taking a long pull from the cup.

Sasuke chuckled as he looked at her. She was leaning back against the television stand one knee slightly bent and her torso curved forward as she sipped on her beverage. The way she was standing exuded attitude and he noticed with satisfaction that that part of her hadn't changed in the years they'd been apart.

"What are you smirking at?" she asked him pointedly.

"I'm just thinking that sometimes you're just like the girl from our genin days." He remarked nearly chuckling when she blushed just like he knew she would.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped her chin lifting a little in a gesture clearly meant as a challenge. Deciding that teasing her would be a way to kill time before the whiskered idiot came back out, he accepted her challenge and moved forward.

"Just that you're still a hot headed, know it all, who loves to pick on Naruto." He explained.

She colored even more and straightened up putting her coffee down. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I'll have you know, that I am not a hot head I'm head strong!" she snapped. "Also, if I didn't keep Naruto in line, we'd never get anything done around here!"

"Is that so?" Sasuke chuckled. "I apologize then."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "You're teasing me aren't you? Why?"

He only smirked in response and moved until he was right in front of her. He placed his hands on either side of her trapping her between them and leaned forward noting how her breath hitched and her pulse pounded. "It's fun don't you think?" he whispered in her ear.

"Sasuke." She said her voice shaking a little. Her reaction was better than he'd hoped and he glanced over at the exposed skin of her neck and was tempted to lay his lips there just to see how she'd react.

"Was that fast enough!?" Naruto exclaimed exploding through the bathroom door.

With the magic broken, Saskue was brought back to reality by the painful sensation of a fist slamming into his stomach. He was thankful that it wasn't infused with chakra but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He took a step back and glared at the pink haired medic who smiled back.

"Yes. Thanks Naruto. Now we can get out of here." Sakura said sweetly.

Sasuke made a mental note not to tease her as hard next time before moving over to where his things were, slipping his bag over his shoulder.

"Right." Naruto said walking forward and picking up his cup. He took a deep breath and smiled. "Hot chocolate! Right on Sai!" he said quickly downing the stuff making Sasuke cringe. Not only was it sickly sweet but to drink it that fast was gross too.

Sai smiled. "Thank you Naruto. I'm glad you like it."

Naruto clapped his hands and grinned as he turned to Sasuke. "Alright! As we planned. We'll head towards The Village Hidden in the Sand! Sasuke, keep your eyes peeled for any sign of that Ryuu kid's chakra."

Sasuke shook his head and smirked at his best friend's enthusiastic demeanor. "Of course." He replied. "I'd rather wait until we get out of town before I start searching thought. I don't want to waste any unnecessary chakra and the further we get from town, the less interference I'll have to sift through."

Naruto nodded as he slipped his back pack on. Sakura clipped her bad into place behind her back as Sai slid his sketchpad into his pack and pulled it into place on his back.

"Team seven. Move out!" Naruto said and in a flash the four ninja were gone from the room and on the roof tops moving swiftly across them until the buildings gave way to trees.

Sasuke activated his advanced eyesight and began searching for any traces of Ryuu's chakra as he leapt through the trees with his team by his side. It felt much better than he anticipated to be traveling this way in his present company. He thought back to his days of being a rouge ninja and remembered now Karin had always made it a point to be close to him no matter the situation. Sakura was different. He guessed it was more out of habit than anything else, but she kept herself in the middle but in particular, she stayed close to Naruto's side. He knew that his blonde best friend and her had been teammates for years. They'd saved each other countless times, fought side by side, and protected one another. It only made sense that she would stick close to him. He'd heard that while they'd been on the moon saving the world that she'd spent three full days pouring her chakra into the Uzamaki dragging him back from the brink of death. He admired her strength and determination more than he'd ever speak aloud. As they moved through the trees he glanced behind watching as Sakura and Naruto looked at one another talking about the village moving in perfect rhythm together, he wondered why she'd refused a place at the Uzamaki's side when she'd clearly earned it. He wondered why she hadn't just let Naruto make her happy instead of pining away for him. He was thankful she hadn't because if so she probably would've let him die like she probably should have after his last actual fight with Naruto but it still didn't make sense to him.

"Hey, Sasuke! Are you alright?" Sakura asked glancing forward.

He blinked and then nodded turning his attention forward again. "I'm fine. Just concentrating." He replied hoping she wouldn't catch onto his lie. From what he could tell they were nearing the village closest to the border of the fire and wind nations and he focused harder trying to pick up on the red eyed boy's chakra. He gasped as he sensed it clear and strong as well as another presence that felt vaguely familiar. "We're close!" he exclaimed. "I can sense Ryuu's chakra and the chakra of something similar to the tailed beast!"

Team Seven was instantly alert all traces of ease and happiness gone from their faces as they shifted into high alert.

"Where?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke focused again "Directly ahead of us." he replied. "Less than a mile away."

"Let's move!" Naruto instructed and the four shinobi pressed onward with increased speed. As they came closer an earsplitting screech rent the air and they landed staring searching for the source of the sound.

"What did I tell you about following us?" Ryuu hissed dropping down next to the Uchiha with a kunai in hand ready to strike.

Sasuke moved and quickly grabbed the boy twisting his arm behind his back squeezing his wrist until the knife slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground below. He was about to question the boy when a blast of fire ripped through the trees making all of the shinobi jump out of the way. The pair landed lithely on the ground and Sasuke grit his teeth as he saw the creature that had blasted them sanding a few yards away. It was a horse the size of a house with a coat black as night and an electric blue tail and mane with flaming red eyes. It pawed the ground angrily and whinnied as it stared down the intruders. He could see right away that the beast's chakra was immense and it was full of rage.

"What is that thing?!" Sakura questioned from where she'd landed just a few feet behind him.

"A horse? I think." Naruto replied. "The creepiest one I've ever seen."

"Of course it is. That's Flare the demon horse of fire and lightning." Ryuu replied.

"Say what?!" Naruto replied as he leapt over to where the three were gathered with Sai right behind him. "Did you say demon horse?"

Ryuu nodded. "Yes."

The beast opened its mouth and a cracking ball of brilliant orange flames and sizzling blue lightning formed into a ball and then fired at the group with blinding speed. Sasuke mentally cursed knowing that he could save himself if he teleported but that would mean abandoning his teammates and the boy. He was about to activate the power when there was a flash of black and the gleam of metal in the sunlight. The ball of energy was split in two and crashed into the forest on either side of the group of shinobi missing them by inches and setting the nearby trees on fire.

"Is everyone alright!?" Naruto called out. "Who saved us?"

"I asked you politely not to follow us but it seems that you didn't listen. Not that I really expected you to but I have the right to dream right?" A musical voice said from beside the Uchiha. He glanced at the stranger and was surprised to see that most of their mask had been singed off and there was a large burn on their right forearm that was holding curved sword, likely the one that had been used to cut the attack.

"You're hurt!" Ryuu exclaimed wrenching out of Sasuke's grip and running to the stranger's side.

"Are you alright Ryuu?" the stranger replied lifting their free hand to touch the boy's head.

"I'm fine but-" The boy stammered.

"That's all I care about." The figure replied touching a finger to his lips. They then sighed and reached up to tug down the mask obscuring their face. Sasuke blinked in surprise when the black fabric fell away revealing clearly feminine features with full lips, high cheek bones, and slender jaw. She looked like she was a couple years younger than the members of team seven. Sixteen to their nineteen. "I said it before but you Uchiha's really do ruin everything. I left Ryuu in a perfectly safe place and had Flare all calmed down and ready to go back home when she sensed your chakra and went crazy again. Those eyes of yours really tick them off. Not that I really blame them, I wouldn't want to be around someone that could hop into my mind and control my body with their creepy eyes either."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the girl. The eyes of the Uchiha clan were a weapon that people had killed to have. Hearing this girl talk about them so lightly made him angry.

The girl sighed and slid her sword back into its sheath on her back. "Well, since you're here you might as well make yourselves useful." She muttered as the demon horse pawed the ground and whinnied tossing sparks as she did so.

"We have some questions for you." Sasuke snarled. "We're not just going to follow your orders."

The girl raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak when she suddenly froze. In another second she leapt towards Sakura.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke demanded as Sakura crashed to the forest floor with the girl in black on top of her.

"Don't move!" the girl snapped. The Uchiha froze mid stride and his eyes widened as a bolt of lightning shot through the air going right through the spot where Sakura had been standing only moments before.

"Wow. Did you see that?" Naruto breathed.

"It's like she knew that attack was coming." Sai murmured.

"I did." The girl replied getting to her feet and extending her hand to the pink haired medic. "Sorry about that. I didn't have enough time to warn you."

"How did you know it was about to attack?" Sasuke demanded.

The girl sighed and touched her fingers to her temple clearly frustrated. "Look! I don't have time to explain everything right now. The longer she's in this place the more agitated Flare will become and I don't want her to run amok and hurt anyone."

"She's already hurt someone!" Ryuu growled.

The girl blinked and then looked down at the angry red burn on her arm. "Right. Anyway, you can question me all you want after I send her back ok?"

"Can we trust you?" Sasuke asked.

The shook her head and raised her arms gesturing to the forest going up in flames around them. "Does it look like we have time to sort out crap like that right now?!" she demanded. "I just saved your girlfriend didn't I? Look, all I'm asking is that you keep Ryuu safe for me. You four can handle that much can't you?"

Sasuke was about to argue when Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "She's right. We don't have time for this." The blonde looked at the girl. "Can you handle this thing on your own then?"

"I can, just get Ryuu somewhere safe and stay out of my way." The girl responded.

"I'm fine on my own." Ryuu protested.

The girl looked down at the boy her lips tugging down into a frown. "Humor me." She responded her tone hard.

The boy flinched at her tone and then hung his head. "Fine. I'll go with them."

"Good boy. I'll be done in less than fifteen minutes." She said patting him on the head as the beast roared. The four shinobi leapt into the trees with Ryuu on Sasuke's back and he watched carefully with his advanced sight as the woman turned to face her four legged opponent. "I heard you! You didn't have to yell at me." The girl said as she looked the demon horse in the eye.

The horse pawed the ground and snorted flames shooting from its nostrils and charged the woman running with blinding speed. The girl leapt into the air and flipped her palm flattening against the creatures back. He noticed a small burst of chakra move from her hand to the creatures back and a seal appeared. It was irritating that he couldn't see her chakra network but he was reassured by the fact that he could see when and where she discharged it. The horse turned and whinnied again and stared down the girl again. He watched as the girl reached behind her and pulled out a wooden staff twirling it in her hands before aiming it at the beast. It charged her again and she leapt into the trees. The beast stopped in the middle of the clearing and bellowed clearly irritated that it couldn't reach it's prey.

"Come and get me Flare." The girl said softly her voice changing slightly. It sounded almost melodic to his ears as she continued. "I know you want to go back home. I have the gate. Let me take you there."

The horse paused it's leg that had been raised in agitation settling back down to the ground. The girl smirked and threw the staff into the ground where it sank a few inches into the soil and stood straight. The horse glanced at the staff and the girl leapt from her perch in the trees and five staffs similar to the first one appeared in her hands. She tossed them with blinding speed at the horse and they formed a loose circle around it. The horse whinnied and reared clearly agitated as the girl weaved signs as she fell from towards the earth. "Five point barrier!" she called out biting her pointer finger and writing a seal in blood in the air. Just as Flare was about to leave the circle, bright white light exploded and sent her flying back to the middle of the clearing.

"What an impressive barrier." Naruto said from where he was perched on the branch above Sasuke. "She did it all by herself too."

Sasuke nodded and then glanced down when Ryuu snorted. "You guys haven't seen anything yet. This is just the beginning of the end." He said his eyes focused on the woman standing outside the circle.

The girl closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again and Sasuke gasped.

"What is it Sasuke?" Naruto demanded.

"I can finally see it." Sasuke replied. "It's incredible. Her chakra truly is on par with ours." He admitted reluctantly.

"Really?" Naruto asked focusing on the girl. "I could probably see it if I went in to sage mode but…"

"It'll be over by then." Ryuu replied quickly. "She's about to wrap things up here but be careful. Things can get tricky if the beast isn't quite ready to go back yet."

The two shinobi nodded as the girl jumped into the air weaving signs. "Fire!" she exclaimed as a brilliant orange flame leapt from her hands and engulfed the first post. She landed near it and then turned her hands moving at blinding speed as she focused on the next post. "Water." She said as she flattened her palms against the ground and what looked like a geyser sprung up engulfing the second post. Her attention turned to the third post and electricity crackled as she pointed her hands at the wodden staff. "Lighting!" she exclaimed as it discharged and surrounded the piece of wood. Flare whinnied and the girl black flipped to escape a fireball. "Almost there." She muttered "Just be patient a little longer." Her attention went back to the second to last post. "Earth." She said as she slammed her fist into the earth and a shaft of rock encased the fourth staff. "Air!" she exclaimed as she swiped her hands through the air and a whirlwind engulfed the last shaft of wood. She then lifted her eyes towards the sky and pressed her palms together as if praying and began to sing in a strange language that none of the shinobi could understand. Her chakra flared engulfing her in silver light and a hole opened up in the sky. The seal Sasuke had seen the girl place on the creature's back at the beginning of their confrontation lit up and the horse was drawn towards the hole in the sky with the stakes following her keeping her caged even as she tried to bolt. The beast glanced upward and her demeanor changed as she shifted towards the amethyst eyes woman standing below her with sweat dripping from her face, her jaw clenched, and body trembling with the effort she was expending. Flare lowered her head and whinnied once more the sound no longer one of anger but of respect before she vanished into the hole and the stakes fell to the ground. The girl released her hands and the hole disappeared along with all traces of Flare the demon horse.

"What did we just see?" Sakura breathed. "Did she really just use all five chakra natures and open a hole in the sky?"

Sasuke nodded. The amount of chakra pouring from her had been astonishing and to his surprise he'd never noticed the volume of her internal reservoir dip like it should have even though her chakra pathways were beginning to break from forcing too much chakra through them. Now like before, his sight was obscured by something he didn't know or understand. Ryuu immediately pulled from his grasp that had loosened over the course of the fight and the boy ran towards the girl as she fell to her knees panting. The four shinobi dropped to the ground and approached the pair.

"Are you alright!?" Ryuu exclaimed.

"I think so. I'm just tired." The girl murmured as the boy put his hands on her shoulders supporting her.

"Let me check! Please?" the boy begged. "I haven't see you like this in a long time."

"I haven't had to tame this many creatures back to back before." She admitted. "It's really starting to get on my nerves."

"Mine too." Ryuu replied. "Now try to hold still."

"I will but my legs feel like jelly so no promises." The girl replied.

Sasuke watched with curiosity as the boy leaned forward and pressed his lips against the girl's neck over her jugular vein.

"Sasuke! What the heck is that kid doing?" Naruto hissed in his ear his cheeks coloring a little.

"I'm not sure." Sasuke admitted. "I can tell he's using chakra though."

Ryuu closed his eyes for a few moments and then pulled away his brows knitting together with worry. "You over did it." The boy said. "You need rest and lots of it."

"You say that every time I send a beast back." The girl replied quietly.

"And I'm right every time!" Ryuu protested. "Please listen to me. I know why you don't want to stay in one place for long because of him but you can't fight back if you don't have any strength."

The girl groaned and then fell forward. Ryuu caught her just in time and cradled her head tears forming in his eyes. "Please Onchou. Seeing you like this hurts me."

She sighed and reached up to touch his face her fingers trembling with the effort. "I'll do as you say, just don't make that face ok?" she murmured as she brushed away his tears.

Sakura moved forward. "I'm a medic remember. I can help you if you cooperate that is."

Ryuu glared at the pink haired woman but the girl spoke. "I already agreed to answer all of your questions in exchange for keeping Ryuu safe for me." She said softly. "I won't resist. I'm too tired for that."

Sakura nodded and knelt beside the girl. "Can you roll onto your back?" she asked the woman.

"Dunno." The girl admitted. "The last time I felt this rotten I didn't even try."

"I'll help you." Sakura said "Ryuu, keep supporting her head." She instructed as she gently rolled the woman over.

Sasuke watched as his teammate moved her hands over the girl's body her brow furrowed in concentration as she felt with her chakra to see what was wrong. "Your chakra network is damaged but strangely you still seem to have plenty left." Her hands went to the burns. "These are pretty serious, nearly third degree. I'll get to work on them right away."

The girl nodded and breathed a sigh of relief when Sakura's hands began to glow green over the burned places on her arm.

"So, Ryuu called you Onchou. Is that your name?" Sakura asked.

The girl nodded. "It is." She replied simply.

"That's a pretty name." Sakura said with a smile.

"I'm glad to her it." The girl replied. "I think that your name is much prettier though." Onchou shuddered and her eyes grew wide. "We need to get out of here." She said her voice hushed.

"Why?" Sakura asked. "I'm not even close to being done."

"There's a group of four shinobi closing in on us." The girl explained her eyes closing. "They want the Uchiha's head."

Sakura's eyes widened even as Sasuke, Naruto, and Sai's eyes narrowed.

"How do you know?" Naruto demanded.

"We don't have time for me to explain it right now." Onchou replied. "I just know ok? I know that the four of you could easily take them down but I'm injured and Ryuu is just a child. We'd be sitting ducks and these fools aren't above using children as human shields."

"Hey! I might be a kid but I can hold my own." Ryuu protested.

"I'm not going to let you risk getting hurt over something that has nothing to do with you." Onchou retorted her eyes narrowing at the boy.

"Are you saying they're rouge?" Naruto asked.

The girl amethyst eyed girl nodded. "Yes but they weren't hired by anyone. I think they just want to increase their own reputations. Cowards, planning to attack four against one." She turned to the Uchiha. "Use those special eyes of yours. I know you'll be able to sense them."

"I already did." Sasuked replied. "She's right, there's four of them headed this way."

"Where should we go?" Sakura asked. "She can't walk."

"We'll have to carry her." Naruto said simply. He bent down to pick up the girl when Ryuu raised a hand to stop him.

"Wait one second." Ryuu said. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Onchou's forehead and she glared at him.

"Sneaky. I'll get you for this later." She muttered before she fell unconscious.

"Why did you knock her out?" The Uzamaki questioned as he pulled the girl into his arms.

"If we're attacked, she'll try to fight. In her condition that's just too dangerous for her and everyone around her." Ryuu explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Sai asked.

"We don't have time to explain everything right now." The silver haired child protested. "We need to get moving."

"He's right." Sasuke replied. "Let's get to the village and quickly."

"Naruto! You be careful with my patient." Sakura warned.

"Yeah yeah!" Naruto replied as he leapt into the trees with the girl limp in his arms. "Let's get a move on!"

The four shinobi sprinted through the trees with blinding speed focused on the village ahead. They arrived and quickly found a place to stay and laid the girl down in one of the beds.

"What should we do?" Naruto asked. "We can't exactly trust these two not to run off but we can't let those rouges come into town either. I don't really like the idea of leaving one of our own here either since we don't know what we're up against."

Sasuke thought for a moment before he spoke. "I have an idea. Leave one of your shadow clones here with those two. If anything happens here, we'll know right away and can send someone."

"Great idea Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed.

Ryuu snorted. "I don't need a babysitter and I made sure she won't be waking up for at least an hour. If you can't take care of them in that amount of time then you're pathetic."

"We don't trust you." Sasuke replied simply "Just like you don't trust us. Your friend there promise to cooperate with us but she could've been lying. So it's either a Naruto clone or one of mine. I can tell you right away which one is going to be more fun to have around." The Uchiha said his eyes narrowing.

The boy snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine! Whatever! Leave one of the blondes here and get out!"

"Smart boy." Sasuke smirked as Naruto made a duplicate of himself and gave it the instructions to look after the boy and his companion until they returned.

The four shinobi then headed out of town moving swiftly through the trees. Sasuke noticed a flash of something metallic out of the side of his eye and drew his katana knocking the kunai out of the air and clattering to the ground. His three companions noticed at once and they dropped to the ground forming a circle.

"You're pretty good." A man dressed in black said dropping down in front of them. "I didn't really expect any less from the last survivor of the Uchiha clan though. Your head will be the crowning jewel of my collection."

Sasuke smirked as the man's three companions dropped from the trees to stand beside him. "You know who I am and you're still dumb enough to challenge me?" he asked his eyes changing to one of blood red and the other vivid purple.

"What do you see?" Naruto asked.

"They're lower-level." Sasuke replied. "We've handled much worse in the past."

The Uzamaki nodded as did the rest of the team.

"I'll give you one chance to turn around and go back to wherever you came from otherwise, we'll beat you down just like any other piece of trash that threatens one of our teammates." Naruto proclaimed shifting into a fighting stance.

The man chuckled. "You're Naruto right? The war hero? I didn't see any of that myself because all of the smart people were out of town during all of that but you can't be all that scary. I've heard the stories, you're just a reckless little brat with a lot of luck. Luck won't be enough to save you from us."

Sakura shook her head. "So that rumor still exists huh? Poor Naruto."

"I'm not a brat anymore! Right guys?" Naruto protested.

"Yeah… Of course not." Sakura responded slowly.

"Sakura." Naruto whined. "Give me a break here."

"I don't think you're a brat." Sai offered with a smile.

"Well that makes one of us." Sasuke replied.

"Don't ignore us to talk amongst yourselves!" the rouge ninja snapped.

"Oh, you're still here?" Sakura replied glancing at the ninja who glared at her. She sighed and reached into her shirt pulling out the leather gloves she kept there. "I guess that means they didn't take your 'get out of a pounding free card'." She said as she slipped them into place on her hands and wiggled her fingers.

"So troublesome." Sasuke said as he drew his katana. "Let's wrap this up and get back. I have a lot of questions to ask that brat."

Naruto nodded and tightened the leaf headband on his forehead. "I'm with you there." The blonde turned to the palest member of the team. "Sai, there's no reason for you to go all out on them."

Sai sighed. "I'm no good at that and you know it but I'll try." He responded as he pulled a scroll from his hip and grabbed a paint brush.

The man in front of them was clearly irritated his eyebrow twitching as he looked at the four leaf ninja. "You four brats! Who do you think you are!?" he exclaimed rushing at them with his companions right behind them.

Sasuke easily dodged his attack and slammed his fist into the man's stomach releasing a little electric charge as he did so sending the man flying backwards slamming in to the trunk of a tree.

The second on of the group went after Naruto and the Uzamaki jumped to avoid the attack and kicked the man in the chest sending him crashing into the ground.

The third one attacked Sai who slammed a knife hand into his stomach knocking the wind out of him and then slammed his elbow down onto the back of his head making the man eat dirt.

The fourth one came running at Sakura and she smirked. "Let me guess, you figured that since I'm a girl I'm easy pickings."

"You got it girly." The man replied. "I feel bad about harming that beautiful body of yours but if you're going to stand between us and the Uchiha I have no choice."

Sakura dodged the kunai thrown at her and landed in a tree above her opponent. "Seems like the feeling's mutual." She replied balling her hand into a fist. "I can't forgive anyone who wants to kill Sasuke!" she exclaimed leaping down and slamming her fist into the ground barely missing her opponent. It cracked beneath her and the man yelped as the shockwave tossed him into the air.

"Geeze! It sounds like you're in love with that homicidal maniac." He stammered.

Sakura turned her emerald eyes blazing and slammed her fist into the man's face sending him flying across the forest. He cowered as she came closer and she drug him up to her face. "Damn right I am you piece of garbage. Which is why you were stupid to pick me as your opponent." And with that she slammed her fist into his stomach and released him letting him fall limply to the forest floor unconscious. She brushed her gloves off and turned to see each of her teammates finishing off their opponents.

"Geeze, these guys were a total waste of time." She muttered as she walked up to Sai who had just knocked out his opponent with a swift kick to the neck.

The painter nodded. "To think they honestly believed they were a match for us."

Naruto choked out his own opponent and stretched. "That wasn't nearly as exciting as I hoped it would be." He agreed.

Sasuke snorted and released the man in front of him from his genjutsu letting him crumple to the floor.

"What are you?" he stammered. "A demon?"

Naruto walked up and hooked his arm around the Uchiha's shoulder grinning widely as Sakura came to his opposite side and hooked her arm through his. Sai stood beside her and rested his arm on her shoulder.

"This guy? A demon?" Naruto laughed. "No way. He's just part of the legendary team seven that ended the Fourth Great Ninja War."

"Exactly." Sakura agreed. "You're the stupid one for picking a fight with us. Run along back to wherever you came from now."

Sai nodded. "You'll have to carry your other friends home though. Sorry, we're not good at holding back."

The man trembled and then slumped unconscious to the ground.

"Oops. Do you think we scared him to death?" Sai asked.

"No. He just passed out." Sakura said confidently. "Let's get back to Ryuu and Onchou. I really want to get that burn taken care of. They're the injury most susceptible to infection you know."

Sasuke nodded and the group headed off in the direction of the village leaving the four men unconscious behind them. They arrived back at the inn to find Ryuu pulling the scarf from Onchou's head. A waterfall of violet colored hair tumbled free and he picked up a comb from the bedside table and began to work in through the thick tresses.

"So that's what color her hair is." Sakura said as she walked inside the room. "I was wondering about that."

Ryuu jumped and nearly dropped the comb as the Naruto clone walked up and gave the original a high five. "Everything was fine here." He said with a grin. "That kid is pretty good at rock paper scissors."

"Good. I should've stayed here and let you fight those rouge ninja. It was probably more fun being here." He muttered.

The copy chuckled before lifting his hands and releasing the jutsu vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"So, now that that's take care of, we have some questions to ask you." Sasuke said pulling up a chair and sitting in it facing the child.

Ryuu sighed as he put the comb down and moved to sit on the opposite bed as Sakura moved forward to work on the burns on Onchou's arm.

"Fine. Ask what you want but there's some things that only Onchou can answer and she'll probably be out of it for a while longer." He replied looking at his companion.

"Fair enough." Naruto said sitting beside the kid.

"What is your final destination?" Saskue asked pointedly.

"We're going to The Village Hidden in the sand to try to find information on Onchou's father. We don't have any other plans outside of that." Ryuu said plainly.

"So was her father a shinobi from that village?" Naruto asked.

The boy shrugged. "She seems to think so. That's what her mother told her anyway."

"So she doesn't know for sure?" Saskue mused.

Ryuu shook her head. "No. She says she's never met him."

"I see." Naruto said touching his chin. "What about the rest of her family? Her mother, grandparents, siblings. Where are they?"

"Dead." Ryuu said simply.

"All of them? Really?" Sakura asked her mouth agape.

The child nodded. "Yes."

"So what are you to her if her family is dead?" Saskue asked pointedly.

Sakura glared at him but he merely shook it off. The questions needed to be asked even if they were harsh.

"I don't know what I am to her." Ryuu admitted. He glanced over at the girl sleeping and his expression warmed a smile touching his lips. "To me though, she's everything. She saved me and we've been together ever since."

"Saved you? From what?" Naruto asked.

The boy sighed. "I might as well tell you from the beginning, of my life anyway." He said. "I don't know who my parents were or if I even had any. My first memories are of looking at a blonde man wearing a white coat through a wall of glass and beside him was a girl with purple eyes and hair looking at me with sadness in her eyes."

Sasuke's brow furrowed. "You sound like some of the test subjects Orochimaru had."

"Orochimaru?" Ryuu repeated his brow lifting. "You know him."

Sasuke nodded. "I was his pupil at one point."

"So you were a lab rat too." Ryuu replied though his tone was one of sympathy not offence.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "I guess you could say that. Anyway, were you one of Orochimaru's subjects? He was very obsessed with the eyes of my clan so it's possible that the color of your eyes was part of a failed attempt to recreate the sharingan."

"No, I was not one of Orochimaru's test subject." Ryuu replied. "I was the test subject of a man named Takuma. He was once a shinobi from a village in The Land of Wind but that's all I really know about him."

"How do you know about Oroichimaru then?" Saskue pressed.

"Because he and Takuma were similar in their desire to create a perfect body that was immortal and retained everlasting youth." Ryuu explained. "They met up every once in a while and since I was one of Takuma's favorite subjects he took me and showed me to Orochimaru once."

"I see." Sasuke said his eyes lowering. It didn't surprise him that there were other men like Orochimaru out there in the world but it made him nervous knowing they met up. "So Onchou was with you during the time you were with Takuma?"

Ryuu nodded. "Yes. She'd been there for two years before I… came along I guess is how you would put it." He said scratching his head.

"So are you human?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed elbowing the boy in the ribs.

"Ouch! Common Sakura! It's an honest question." He hissed.

The boy glanced down at his hands. "I think so, at least mostly anyway. I have some abilities that most wouldn't consider normal though. Orochimaru is considered human right? I think the things he does are way more inhuman than what I can do." He clenched his hands into fists. "And I'm not like the Dolls."

"Dolls? Do you mean puppets?" Sakura asked.

He shook his head. "No. Puppets are controlled by chakra strings and are created from wood and other materials. Dolls are different." He said his brow furrowing slightly. "It's a little difficult to explain. I guess you could call them soul-less humans."

"Isn't one of the defining characteristics of being human having a soul?" Sakura asked.

Ryuu shrugged. "I told you it wasn't an easy concept to explain. They look human and do all the things a normal human would but they don't have any emotions."

"How can you be sure?" Sasuke asked.

"Onchou can tell." Ryuu replied. "Don't ask me to explain because that's her thing not mine." He replied his brow knitting. "Anyway, as I was saying. Onchou and I were Takuma's favorite… possessions I guess is the best word for it, so we ended up spending a lot of time together with him. She was… so kind to me. Takuma looked at me like the lab rat that I was. I was his favorite of course, but I was still a rat. She was different, she held me, talked with me and sought me out even when were weren't required to be together." He smiled at the memory. "She made me feel human. After about three years though, Takuma started to look at her differently, like he was angry with her. I didn't really understand why until I found her with Akira."

"Akira?" Sakura asked.

Ryuu nodded. "Yes. He was like Onchou. He was born to a normal family like she was and then kidnapped too. He was a little older than her and they became very close. It was different from what she and I have. To me, Onchou is like a sister… no more like a mother. Akira was something different to her. She always wanted to please him and be there for him. Nothing made her smile wider than when he praised her or complimented her."

Sakura's eyes softened. "She loved him didn't she?"

Ryuu nodded. "I think so. She never came out and said it but I could tell. Anyway, Takuma seemed angry about it and started keeping them apart more and more. I also noticed that he was rougher with her when performing his experiments on her. I hated when she went into the lab because then the screams would start and they wouldn't stop for hours on end." He shuddered at the thought.

Sasuke looked down. This man sounded crueler than Orochimaru and more twisted.

"One day, Akira came back sooner than expected from his mission and came looking for Onchou. He heard her screams and rushed into the lab. I followed him and…." He cringed placing his hands on his head. "Onchou was on the table screaming. One of my abilities is that I can sense the body's condition through touch. I slipped forward and felt her wrist and I could tell that he was trying to force her chakra network to its limit and break it open so he could force his own chakra into her body."

"Why would he want to do that?" Sakura asked. "I put my chakra into other people's body when I heal them and Naruto has done it to help others."

Ryuu nodded. "That's different because you're not causing any harm. You're trying to heal or strengthen them. Your chakra is pure and untainted by evil. Takuma's reeks of evil. I'm not sure but I'm fairly certain he was trying to make her into one of his Dolls."

"Well that's creepy." Naruto murmured. "Why couldn't he do that?" he asked.

"Well, Akira interrupted him so that was part of it but it's mostly because of this." He said walking over to Onchou and tapping a spot in the center of her chest. "There's a seal here. It's been there for as long as she can remember. My guess is that he couldn't get past this."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "It makes sense to me. That's the same thing that distorts my vision."

Ryuu tilted his head to the side. "Really? That's interesting. Anyway, Takuma was really angry with Akira after that and locked him away for a while. Onchou and I snuck down to visit him whenever Takuma was away and he suggested that we try to run away."

"Did you make it? Is that how you got to this point?" Sakura asked.

Ryuu shook his head sadly. "No. The day before we'd planned to run Akira was found dead in his cell."

Sakura's eyes widened. "How horrible! Who killed him?"

The boy wiped a tear from his eye. "We don't know. Onchou thinks it was one of Takuma's loyal rats, the ones that came to him willingly." He glanced at his companion. "After Akira died, she was like a completely different person. The light went out of her eyes and she became almost like the Dolls. She ate, trained and slept and that was all. I could snap her out of it sometimes and she'd smile and laugh like she used to but it was never for very long."

"So how did you get to this point?" Sakura asked.

"I'm getting to that. About a year and a half ago just before the fourth ninja war was about to start, I noticed that Onchou started to act more like herself. She had more fire in her eyes and laughed like she had before. I asked her why and she said that she sensed that the world was about to change and that she'd heard a beautiful song pass by that reminded her of Akira."

"A song?" Sakura asked confused.

Ryuu sighed. "Yeah… I'll have her explain that one to you because it's not my thing but the bottom line is that it gave her hope. Then The Fourth Great Ninja War broke out. Takuma wanted to observe the war and took Onchou and I out of the hideout to watch with him. Onchou seemed really on edge the entire time and I could tell she wanted to tame the ten tails. I asked her why she couldn't and she replied that there were too many Uchiha's nearby and that it had been under their control for too long for her to force it back. Anyway, during the fighting something flew from the battlefield and struck Takuma in the chest knocking him out." The boy furrowed his brow. "It was like a blue ball of air and light. I'd never seen anything like it."

Sakura glanced at Naruto. "That sounds like a rasingan to me."

Naruto shrugged and scratched his face. "Hey! It was a battlefield ok? Some shots are bound to miss their mark."

Ryuu raised an eyebrow before continuing. "That was the day we ran away." He said. "We just took off and didn't stop until we collapsed. She swore to me that she would protect me and I promised to do the same for her. We've been on the run ever since."

"So, what does this have to do with you going to The Village Hidden in the Sand?" Sasuke asked.

"That's just the place that Onchou said her father is supposed to be from. Her mother and grandparents are dead and the village where she was born and raised was completely destroyed many years ago. I was born in a laboratory so we really don't have any other place to go." He explained. "We're just trying to figure things out and I think that her seal has been bothering her. Maybe she's hoping if her father is alive that he'll be able to help her. That's her stuff though, you'll have to ask her." He said holding up a hand as Sasuke was about to speak. "To be honest, I don't really know much of anything. I'm following her because I trust her more than any other person in this world. I don't know the details nor do I need to know them." He yawned and stretched. "I'm really tired. Would you guys mind if I took a nap?" he asked.

"No not at all." Sakura said with a warm smile.

"Thanks." He said moving to crawl into bed next to the violet haired girl and curled up against her side.

"So what do you think of his story?" Sasuke asked after the boy had fallen asleep.

"I don't know." Sakura replied. "I mean it's all possible given what we've seen from Orochimaru, Donzo, and all the other creeps that experimented with humans. His story was just choppy."

"Well it makes sense. He's only a kid after all." Naruto said laying a blanket over the boy. "If we want better answers, we'll have to get them from her." He said motioning to the unconscious girl. "She clearly seems to be the one running the show."

Sai nodded. "I agree. The boy seems to just be a follower in this situation."

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Do you know anything about this Takuma guy?" she asked.

Sasuke thought for a moment and wracked his brain as he returned to that time in his life. The memory of a man with blonde hair accompanied by a toddler with silver hair and red eyes carried in the arms of a girl with sad purple eyes and violet haired flooded his memory. It was near the end of his stay with the pale ninja during the time where he rarely stayed in the hideout. He'd only come back for medicine that Kabuto had prepared to him.

"Is that your new vessel?" he heard the man ask Orochimaru as he walked past.

The snake sannin nodded. "Indeed. He's the youngest Uchiha left."

"What a fine catch." The man replied with a smirk. "You even managed to get him to come to you willingly."

"Well anyone can be persuaded if given the right motivation. Particularly children." Orochimaru replied.

The blonde chuckled. "True enough."

"Who are these two?" the snake Sannin asked the man. "I thought you were following the same route I am?"

"My new vessel is in the middle of training right now." He explained "Besides, these two are much more exciting."

Saskue found himself leaning against the wall curious about the two children and the blonde man. If he was a friend of Orochimaru and he wanted to know if he'd be the type to avenge his death. After all, he was planning to kill the snake sooner or later.

"Are they now? Do enlighten me." Orochimaru said with a sly smile.

"This boy was created combining the DNA of a human and a dragon." He explained.

Sasuke cocked a brow at that and the Sannin's eyes widened. "How did you manage that?" he asked.

"I summoned one. It was hell and nearly took all my chakra but I did it and managed to get some of its blood. It was awful, but worth it given how well he turned out." He said touching the toddler on the head. "He's too young to transform but once he gets a little older, he'll be a force to be reckoned with."

The Sannin nodded. "Indeed. You'll have to share your notes with me." He looked at the girl next. "And what about this child?"

The man grinned. "Oh, this girl is a rare find. That last of her kind as far as I can tell. Rarer than your Uchiha I dare say."

"Oh really? Who is she then?" Sannin asked. "Being the last of something doesn't always make it more valuable." He said skeptically as he looked the girl over.

"True enough." The man replied. "However, this one's different." He moved obstructing the Uchiha's view of the girl and he heard Orochimaru's small gasp of surprise.

"Where on earth did you find her?" The sannin exclaimed. "I've combed the world looking for any survivors of that clan. I thought that they had been annihilated for sure. Are you positive this girl is really…"

The man moved away from the girl who Sasuke could tell was now uncomfortable and chuckled. "You want a demonstration don't you? Well we'll see. How do you think I survived that encounter with the dragon?"

"You've had her for a while now haven't you? How rude of you not to share." Orichimaru pouted. Then his eyes lit up his gaze flickering to his pupil. "Hmm… I wonder…"

The man snickered and glanced back at the Uchiha leaning against the wall. "Me too. The notion is quite temping isn't it?"

Sasuke mentally cringed, he knew what that look meant. Oroichimaru was probably concocting some experiment to perform on him and at the moment he wasn't interested. He promptly strode away without saying a word curious about the mystery man and his 'children' though he quickly pushed it aside as he exited the hideout and walked out into the sun. He glanced up at it and was reminded of a mess of blonde spikes and a wide toothy grin. Irritated, he looked away only to see cherry blossoms drift through the air and land at his feet. The color reminded him of a little girl he once knew. The last time he'd seen her, she'd been close in age to the child he'd just seen. He briefly wondered about how she looked now. If she'd grown her blush colored locks out again or if she'd kept it short. He cursed at the thought and leapt into the air. Those days were over, he didn't have time to waste thinking about the people he'd left behind now.

He was pulled out of his memory by the sound of Naruto's voice. "Well Sasuke?" he urged.

Sasuke nodded. "I'm pretty sure I saw him once." He replied. "In fact, I'm also fairly certain that those two were with him at the time."

"Are you serious?" Sakura gasped. "Why didn't you recognize them?"

He shrugged. "It was only one meeting and it wasn't very long. Ryuu was only a toddler and Onchou was young too. People change a lot in four years especially the younger ones."

"True enough." Sai agreed. "So did you remember anything else important?"

"Onchou is the only survivor of her clan if I remember correctly." He replied. "And Ryuu has DNA from a dragon mixed in with his own."

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Well that's exciting." She muttered.

"You don't seem terribly taken back." Sasuke replied.

"Well, Naruto has a giant fox inside him, you can conjure up a man the size of a small mountain, and I've seen Orochimaru throw up a snake who threw up another Orochimaru so…. Yeah a little dragon DNA is nothing." She admitted.

Sasuke smiled at her. "You've really grown up haven't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You say that like you're surprised."

"I am but in a good way." He assured her. He watched as she looked over at Onchou her eyes soft and sad. Seeing her like that was something he didn't like at all.

"Do you want to come with me to find something to eat Sakura?" he asked suddenly.

She rasied an eyebrow. "What? Why?" she asked.

"Well, I figured that Naruto and Sai could stay here with those two while we went and got dinner for everyone. Even after she wakes up she won't be able to go anywhere. We might as well get something now." He replied trying desperately to keep his motives hidden. He just wanted that expression off her face or at least to find out why it was there and pray that it wasn't because of him.

"Alright, that sounds fair enough." She replied. "Let's go."

They made their way to the street in silence and he sighed. "So, what's on your mind?" he asked suddenly stopping to wait for her to catch up. He was so used to being alone that it was sometimes hard to him to match his pace with someone else, especially when that someone else had much shorter legs than he did.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." She replied wincing as a rowdy bunch of children ran past knocking her off balance.

"Careful." Sasuke said reaching out to steady her with his arm. "Here, walk beside me." He said slipping his hand in hers and pulling her towards him until they were side by side. He didn't miss the blush that came to her cheeks and decided that he wanted it to stay. It was much better than the sad expression she'd been wearing before. He kept his hold on her hand and continued down the street. "I was just wondering why you looked so depressed when you were looking at Onchou." He said deciding to answer her question.

"Oh that." She replied her blush still in place on her cheeks. "I haven't heard her entire story but it reminds me a lot of yours. Being used by an evil man, losing her family at a young age, living life on the run. Then hearing how the person she loved was murdered like that, I guess it just makes me feel sorry for her." She sighed. "I could just imagine what she felt like. I was afraid of something like that happening to you. That one day I'd wake up and find out that you'd been killed. She actually experienced that. It's quite depressing."

Sasuke nodded. "It's true. Our stories seem to be similar. It's unfortunate. No one should have to go through what I did."

Sakura nodded and then bumped into him as another child ran past nearly knocking her over. She clutched his sleeve and blushed a pretty shade of pink. "I'm sorry Sasuke." She murmured. "These kids are crazy."

"Don't be." He replied. "I don't mind."

He noticed the small smile on her lips and smiled himself as they approached the eating district of the village. The place where most of the locals seemed to be gathered around was the ramen shop and the pair of seasoned travelers knew that the places locals liked were generally the best.

Sakura sighed. "Should we throw Naruto a bone or keep looking for something else?" she asked the Uchiha.

Sasuke chuckled. "He was pretty helpful today."

"True." She replied. "Ramen it is."

They took their places in line and Sasuke glanced around noting the curious looks they were getting. A group of girls approached and he braced for impact when they began whispering amongst themselves.

"Do you see that? He's holding hands with that pink haired girl." One of them whispered.

"Yeah. She's pretty cute too." Another replied.

"They look really good together." The third girl acknowledged. "We should leave them alone. They're probably on a date or something."

"Hmm… a date with Sasuke Uchiha. What a lucky girl." The first one mused before brushing past with her friends in tow.

Sasuke smiled a little and then stiffened his grip on Sakura tightening as a group of local men started talking.

"You see that pink haired chick?" the first one said. "She's a cutie."

"Yeah she is but she's taken." The second one replied with a sigh.

"Huh? By who?" asked the third one craning his neck to get a better view.

"The dark haired guy next to her." The second man replied. "He's holding her hand, can't you see it? He looks like a shinobi too and those guys mean business."

The first and third man sighed. "Yeah you're right." The first one replied.

"Lucky guy." The third one muttered.

"We should do this more often." Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Do what?" Sakura asked looking up at him.

"Ummm…. Spend time together like this." He replied quickly. It wasn't really a lie but he didn't want her to know he was talking about holding hands to keep the annoying members of the opposite sex away. She'd probably take it the wrong way, and to be honest he really was enjoying the sensation of her hand in his. If felt just right, a little smaller and a little warmer than his own hand. They approached the counter and ordered enough for their entire team plus the newcomers to go. Shortly after they were handed bags of food to carry.

"Umm… Sasuke, you're going to have to let go of my hand." Sakura said apologetically as she looked at the four bags that needed to be hauled.

He reluctantly let go of her hand picked up the two heaviest bags. "Why did you order so much?" he asked as they walked.

"You know Naruto is with ramen." She replied with a smile.

"I know. It's so nasty." He replied shuddering at the memory of the Uzamaki stuffing his face with food.

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I guess I'm just used to it though." She replied. "Anyway, your fangirls didn't bother us at all. I'm surprised."

Sasuke snickered. "Your fan club didn't either."

She blushed and then moved closer to him blushing a little a smile playing at her lips.

"What are you smiling about?" he asked curious.

"Oh nothing. I'm just happy." She replied. "I was afraid I'd never be able to walk by your side again but here I am." She said with a smile.

He blinked and then smiled at her. Just like always, it was the little things that made her smile and made her happy. "I'm glad that you're happy." He replied softly. She glanced over at him and he felt a little blush tinge his own cheeks. "What? Did I say something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"Not at all. It's just the opposite." Sakura replied. "Thank you Sasuke, for everything." She said before bounding into the inn.

He smiled at her bubbliness considering his little personal mission a success and then followed her inside.

P.S. Holy long chapter Batman! . I was not expecting this chapter to be this long or information packed but it was. I'm try to pick up the pace of the story a little so we can get back to the fluff. My bad! I hope you enjoy it though! I doubt the next one will be as long but we'll see. Thanks for all your support!


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Notes: Thank you again for all your support! I know I sound like a broken record but I promise you that I mean it every time. I really wasn't expecting this much success so I'm thrilled at how many of you have taken the time to read this! Enjoy this next chapter!

"Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed as Sakura and Sasuke returned with their arms full of food. "I knew it! You guys actually like me after all." He said with a wide grin as he reached to take the bags weighing Sakura down.

"Of course we like you dummy." Sakura teased as she handed out the different portions. As the four shinobi ate the rustling of sheets drew their attention back to the bed where their guests were laying.

Onchou sat up slowly and a low groan escaped her lips as she touched her temple lightly. "So loud." She muttered.

"I'm sorry. Did we wake you?" Sakura asked smacking the Uzamaki who was slurping his noodles loudly.

"No." the girl replied raking her fingers through her hair. "That damn spell of Ryuu's just wore off is all." She glanced down at the boy curled up against her side sleeping soundly and affectionately brushed his hair out of his face. "Little trouble maker." She muttered before sliding slowly out of the bed to the floor careful not to wake the child and covered him up laying a pillow down in the place where she had been. The boy immediately snuggled against the substitute and then settled down again.

"Come and eat." Sakura said standing up and offering her seat to the younger girl. "There's some for you."

"Thank you." The girl responded sitting down hesitantly in the spot that put her between the Sasuke and Sai.

"Don't worry, they don't bite." Sakura assured her. She walked forward and placed her hand on the girl's back and frowned. "Do you need help eating or anything? I'm amazed you're even awake right now. Your chakra network is still pretty banged up."

The girl shrugged. "I should be fine. I've been worse." She replied accepting the food that Sai pushed towards her.

After taking a few bites and a drink of tea she sighed. "You can start your interrogation Uchiha. I know you're itching to do it so just go ahead. I think I can answer your questions between bites."

Sasuke blinked and then scowled. He didn't like the way this girl talked to him. "Have we met before?" he asked.

The girl smirked. "Ah, so you finally remembered? Yes, I'm the girl that you saw with Orichimaru four years ago. The toddler I was holding was Ryuu and the man I was with is Takuma but you already figured that out didn't you?"

Sasuke nodded. "Is that why you don't like me?" he asked "Because of how I acted then?"

Onchou shrugged. "I guess that's part of it. You were so… angry and hateful then. It hurt my ears." She muttered.

"Ok, I'm really starting to get confused by all the sound analogies." Naruto groaned. "Ryuu said that you can hear things like songs that other people can't. What's up with that?"

Onchou sighed. "You're all familiar with how the Uchiha clan has special powers in their eyes that grant them abilities that others don't right including copying movements, casting genjutsu, controlling summoned beasts and so on?"

"Of course." Sasuke replied irritated.

"Calm down." The girl muttered. "Well the members of my clan were some of the only people that had a chance against them in a one on one fight."

"How is that possible?" Naruto replied. "I remember being told once that when facing an Uchiha 'If one against one abandon the field if two against one take the rear and they'll yield.' Does that not apply to you?"

"I hadn't heard that one." Sasuke admitted. "I kind of like it."

Sakura chuckled and Onchou rolled her eyes before she continued talking. "Not exactly. It's not like we're immune to their powers or anything, we're just as screwed as anyone else who makes the mistake of looking them in the eye during a fight. The only difference is that we can fight with our eyes closed."

The four shinobi stared at the girl dumbfounded. "You're joking right?" Naruto replied. "How can you fight with your eyes closed and stand a chance? He can still read and predict your movements."

The girl nodded. "That's just fine. I can predict his as well. Using these." She said tucking her hair behind her ear and motioning to it. Her ear didn't look very abnormal but you could tell that there was something different about it. Instead of being rounded it was pointed and black swirling tattoos dotted the curled shell of it. "My ears give me heightened hearing to the point that in a battle I can hear the slightest movement, a muscle releasing to throw a kunai for example or the intake of breath right before someone casts a fireball jutsu. I can hear the heartbeats of everyone around me so I can easily tell how many opponents I'm fighting and their exactly positions." she let her hair fall back over her ear as she continued. "I also have the ability to hear what my grandmother called a person's soul song. Every living creature has one and we're just able to hear it. It's a little difficult to explain so I'll show you." She walked over to where Ryuu had put her things while the four shinobi had been away and pulled what looked like a music box out of her bag. She walked back to them and put it on the table. "This is what I use to collect soul strings." She explained. "Soul strings are just like copies of a person's soul song I can pull from the wind. I guess you could say they're similar to chakra strings." She said as she opened the box.

"I can't see anything." Naruto complained. "Can you Sasuke?"

The Uchiha shook his head. "No."

The girl chuckled. "Of course you can't. I told you it was something unique to my clan didn't I?" she thought for a moment and then reached into the box. Sasuke was surprised to hear a tinkling sound similar to the sound of glass tubes bumping into one another. The girl smiled and wrapped her fingers around something and he watched as what looked like a yellow colored chakra string appeared in her fingers. "This is one I picked up when I was about nine years old." She said smiling. "I didn't know who's it was at the time but I really like it. I know who's it is now though." She took the string and closed the lid of the box and then threaded it through a small hole in back of it pressing it until it vanished and then softly blew into the same hole. A moment later music began to come from the box a soft, pretty but sad melody began to play and then a voice came from the box signing along with the music in a langue that none of the shinobi could understand. Sasuke glanced around and saw Naruto's eyes widened and then mist with tears as he listened.

"Onchou. Is that…" the blonde began.

Onchou nodded. "Yes. That's your soul's song Naruto. Your song from seven years ago anyway."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Sai glanced at the blonde boy noting how a tear slipped from his eye.

The song ended and the girl rubbed the box with her hand. "I heard that song around the same time that I learned that I wasn't like other children and never would be. I was lonely." She blushed at looked at the boy. "When I heard your song that day, I realized that I wasn't the only one feeling that way. I couldn't help but snatch it and tuck it away."

"So when you said that I had a beautiful soul, were you referring to my soul song?" Sakura asked.

The girl nodded. "I was. A person's soul song is one of the only things I've come across in this world that can't be manipulated or masked. It's a true manifestation of who they are as a person no matter how they may appear or act on the outside." She picked up the box and carried it back to her bag tucking it safely away before sitting down again.

"So how can a song be applied to fighting?" Naruto asked.

"Well, everybody's song changes when they're fighting." She explained. "And every song has a rhythm. It's quite easy to predict and anticipate your opponent's moves once you have their rhythm down. Not only that but I can hear chakra and can tell the different natures of it just by listening. Does that make sense?" she replied. "It's pretty difficult to explain honestly." She muttered rubbing her temples.

"It does at least a bit." Sakura replied putting her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Those ears of yours, I bet Orochimaru wanted to get his hands on them. It makes sense that he would be interested in them given his closeness with the sound ninjas." Sasuke replied touching his chin.

The girl snorted. "Sound ninjas. My grandmother told me that they were founded by a member of our clan that was cast out long ago. Cheap copy cats." She muttered. Sasuke smirked. He'd found a tender spot. Onchou sighed. "But you're right. He wants my ears, even now but they're not like the eyes of the Uchiha. They can't be transplanted to anyone else."

"How do you know?" Sakura asked. "We have cochlear implants now after all."

"Many years ago, someone took one of my grandfather's ears. When he tried to transplant it onto himself, the ear burned away and killed the man in the process." She explained shuddering at the memory. "It wasn't pretty."

"I see." Sakura replied. "Well at least you don't have to worry about that."

The girl shook her head. "Not exactly." She shuddered. "When he learned about that, he and Takuma came up with another plan. That twisted plan is probably why being around you makes me uncomfortable. Besides how ugly your song used to be. I was tempted to take that discord of yours out myself it got so toxic." She replied looking at the Uchiha.

"What plan was that?" he asked curious. He had an idea of what it was knowing Orochimaru and how he could justify the killing of innocent children in the name of science nothing would really surprise him.

She folded her arms across her chest and stood up walking to the window glancing out at the growing darkness. "The only thing better than magic eyes or magic ears is having them both on the same body." She replied. "He wanted to combine our DNA and create a human that possessed your sight and my hearing." She balled her hands into fists. "Sick bastards, thinking they can treat us like livestock."

Sakura, Naruto, and Sai looked down disgust written on their faces while Sasuke gritted his teeth. He mentally kicked himself for not finishing the snake off after the Fourth War.

"Anyway, that can't be all the questions you had for me." Onchou said stepping away from the window clearly more relaxed.

"Right." Sasuke replied clearing his throat. "Do you know who's responsible for summoning the beasts that have been attacking in the land of fire?" he asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "No. I can hear their song shortly before each one is summoned but I've never been fast enough to catch them. From what I can tell, the person is a man but I can't tell much more than that."

"Do you know why they're being summoned?" he asked.

Again the girl shook her head no. "I'm sorry. I wish I knew."

Sakura motioned for the girl to sit again when she noticed the girl wobbling a little. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine. I'm just a little dizzy." The girl admitted. "Please continue."

"Alright then, why are you trying to go to The Village Hidden in the Sand?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm searching for my father." The girl replied simply. "My mother told me that he was a shinobi from that village. I don't have any other living relatives so I thought that would be the best place to go searching. I also want to learn more about the village where I was raised. It was destroyed but it was a village under that Village's protection. I'm hoping they have some additional information on it."

"Fair enough." Naruto remarked. "So, Ryuu told us about something called Dolls that Takuma has, do you want to explain a little more about those?"

"Why do you want to know about those things?" she asked wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Well, they sounded weird and dangerous." Naruto responded.

She sighed. "Well, they're both of those things. I don't have a lot of information for you on them though." She admitted. "Takuma started developing them before I became one of his lab rats. They're human, at least in the basic things. They eat, sleep, and move like humans and look like them but they're… empty inside." She sighed raking her fingers through her hair. "Ugh! It's so hard to explain. They're mindless, I've never once heard any of them speak a single word."

"Maybe they don't understand." Sakura offered.

Onchou shook her head. "Oh, they understand just fine. They take orders no matter that they are. I once saw one rip his own arm off because he was ordered to." She shuddered at the memory. "I'm guessing that's the reason Takuma created them. A mindless army that does whatever he says. They're not stupid either, they can fight on par with most shinobi though they can't use any chakra. They're not afraid of anything and I don't think they can feel pain. If they can they don't show it. If you cut off their legs, they'll still crawl after you trying to fulfill their master's commands."

"That does sound alarming." Sakura agreed. "Do you know what his future plans are?"

The girl shook her head. "I have no idea. The last time I caught his song on the wind a few months ago he was still focused on getting Ryuu and I back."

Naruto thought for a moment. "Wait a second, so you can tell what a person is thinking through their song?"

"More or less." She replied, "Why?"

"You can also tell whose song it is from a distance?" he added.

She nodded. "If I've had a previous encounter with them I can."

"Hmm… That's a pretty useful gift. Anyway, it sounds like you're not really up to no good." He said scratching his chin. "What do you think we should do guys?" he asked.

"We were already instructed to go to The Village Hidden in the Sand." Sai replied. "We might as well take them along with us."

Sasuke nodded. "I agree. We can keep tabs on them that way."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah! And if your dad was a ninja from there then Garra might know who he is and he'll definitely be able to find out information on your village."

"Garra? Who is that?" Onchou replied.

"He's the Kazikage." The blonde haired man replied. "He's a good friend of mine."

"He's the leader over all of the Shinobi in The Land of Wind." Sakura explained.

"Oh. That sounds like a good idea." The girl replied.

"We should write a report to Kakashi Sensei about what we've discovered so far and let Garra know that we're on our way." Sakura said.

Sasuke nodded. "Of course. I volunteer Sai for the job since he has the neatest handwriting."

Sai sighed. "Of course." He muttered pulling out a brush and paper.

"So what's up with Ryuu and the Dragon?" Naruto asked.

Onchou looked over at the boy sleeping in the bed closest to the window and sighed. "Many years ago right after he captured me, Takuma summoned a dragon named Hisame. He and I battled the beast and it took everything I had to contain and tame that dragon and I was about to send him back when Takuma brought out Ryuu, a human that he had created in his laboratory and forced me to help him seal the dragon inside him." Her eyes watered at the memory. "It was awful, he was so little and Hisame's power is incredible. It nearly killed him." She threaded her hands through her hair and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Takuma brought him back to the lab and was forced to inject him with massive amounts of growth hormones and a slew of other drugs to strengthen him enough to survive the amount of energy Hisame had." She gritted her teeth as tears slid down her face. "I should've just sent that monster back! Ryuu…" she glanced over at the boy. "If he ever releases that monster inside him it'll tear him apart. It's all my fault he's like this."

Naruto reached out and touched the girl on the shoulder. "It's alright. I have a fox named Kurama locked inside of me but he and I are friends now. He and I work together now. Ryuu and Hisame can be the same way."

"Is Kurama truly tamed?" Onchou asked softly. The girl looked up at the Uzamaki and then reached out placing her palm over the seal on his stomach that contained the beast her eyes closing. He stood frozen for a moment as the air changed and her hair moved revealing her ears. The black tattoos were now glowing silver as her brow furrowed in concentration. Naruto's eyes soon closed and Sasuke, Sakura and Sai all looked on nervously. After a few moments, a smile came to the blonde's face and as tears slipped down Onchou's face. Their eyes opened simultaneously and the Uzamaki wrapped his arms around the violet haired girl. "What did I tell you? Everything will work out just fine."

"Thank you Naruto." She replied with a smile pulling out of his arms. She swayed a little on her feet and Sakura reached out and steadied her.

"Are you ok?" she asked the girl.

Onchou touched her hand to her forehead while the other clutched at her chest. "Ugh! Not this again. Not now!" she murmured shutting her eyes tightly. She pulled out of the pink haired medic's grasp and staggered towards the window. "I don't have time for this!" she hissed as she threw it open "Watch Ryuu for me. I'll be back." She instructed gasping in obvious pain before leaping out the window.

"Wait!" Naruto called out. "Darn it all! Sai! Come with me!" he called out. "We're going after her."

Sai nodded and in a flash the two shinobi were gone leaving Sasuke, and Sakura to watch over Ryuu.

Sakura sighed and pulled up a chair next to the sleeping boy and Sasuke leaned against the bedside table beside her crossing his arms over his chest. After a few moments, Sakura spoke. "So, what do you think?" she asked.

"About what?" he replied.

"Onchou and her story." Sakura replied.

Sasuke shrugged. "Everything she said makes sense. That Takuma guy she was stuck with almost makes Orochimaru sound humane." Sakura cocked a brow at him and he chuckled. "I said almost."

"Her story is a lot like yours." Sakura remarked.

Sasuke nodded. "I suppose so."

Sakura was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "Sasuke, I've always wondered, did you ever think about me while you were away?"

He glanced at her and she blushed. "I mean, it's glaringly obvious that Naruto and I thought about you almost constantly. I'm just curious." She stammered running her fingers through her hair nervously.

He took a deep breath and then let it out again looking at his feet before answering. "To be honest, back then I was only focused on my goal. Any thought that didn't have something to do with that, I pushed away." He glanced at her noting her nod and the little frown that touched her face and sighed. "Every time I saw cherry blossoms your face would come to my mind." He said softly. She turned to look at him her eyes widening. He glanced up at the ceiling. "It couldn't really be helped. Your name, and the color of your hair. It was impossible not to."

"I see." Sakura replied tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "This might seem selfish but I'm actually glad you did. I mean, I knew you thought about Naruto but I guess I thought for a while that you'd forgotten about me."

Sasuke smirked. "Oh believe me, I tried." Sakura turned to him her eyes blazing and he caught the fist he knew was coming and pulled her closer with it, "But I couldn't. I could never erase the memory of the little girl with pink hair and green eyes who was always chasing after me."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Sakura said a little pout coming to her lips as she pulled her hand from his grip.

The Uchiha sighed. "At the time I thought it was annoying, just another distraction from my goal. I don't feel that way anymore though." When he really stopped to think about it, those moment were probably when his heart was probably trying to tell him what his mind was too stubborn to accept at the time. Telling him that he should've been where she and Naruto were instead of off chasing his vendetta. The room grew quiet and he became a little uncomfortable. He glanced over at where she'd settled back into her chair and she turned her face away from him as she checked on Ryuu. Her hair shifted exposing her neck and the same temptation to touch his lips to it entered his mind. His heart picked up its pace and his breathing quickened at the thought. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself and mentally cursed, she'd never affected him like this before. A small, wry smile touched his slips as he realized that this was probably how Sakura had always felt when around him and silently applauded her for her suffering. He knew she wouldn't reject him if he touched her or kissed her even but his heart wasn't ready for that even if his body was trying to convince him otherwise. Desperate for a distraction he glanced around the room and his eye fell on the note that Sai had been writing and his mind drifted to their mission and how they'd be going to The Village Hidden in the Sand. He remembered Leo saying something about her being well like and appreciated there and decided that was as good a conversation starter as any.

"So are you looking forward to visiting The Village Hidden in the Sand?" he asked.

Sakura turned her attention back to him and nodded. "I am. I'm looking forward to visiting Lady Chiyo's grave."

Sasuke nodded. "She's the old woman who helped you defeat Sasori right?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. She saved my life. She was actually Sasori's grandmother."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and inclined his head slightly. "I see. She must have been a great puppet master."

The pink haired medic nodded. "Oh she was. I was one of her puppets for a few rounds during the battle. She was very talented not only in that but medical ninjutsu. She saved my life and then brought Garra back from the dead." She smiled. "If I could be half the woman she was, I'd be satisfied."

Sasuke glanced at her and smiled. "I bet she's proud of you."

She glanced at him her eyes widening and then softening. "You really think so?"

He nodded. "You're part of the new Sannin, have the 100's healing mark, and helped save the world at least twice and you're not even twenty. How could she not be?"

She smiled at him blush coloring her cheeks. "Thanks Sasuke. I hope you're right."

"How did you manage to beat Sasori anyway?" he asked. "He wasn't just a puppet master but his talent for creating poisons was almost on par with Ororchimaru."

"Well, I created an antidote for his poison before I entered the fight. I used it to heal Kankuro. I actually ended up using my fists for the most part. Those wooden puppets are nothing against them." She chuckled.

Sasuke shook his head. He wished he could go back in time to watch what he knew must have been an epic battle. He frowned for a moment. "Wait, why was it just you and Lady Chiyo fighting him? Weren't Naruto and Kakashi with you? I even heard that team Gui was on that mission."

Sakura thought for a moment. "Well, team Gui had left to take care of the seals put on the boulder barrier. After getting inside we found Sasori and Diedara waiting for us. Garra was lying dead on the cave floor and Diedara was sitting on him." She clenched her fists at the memory. "Obviously Naruto got angry and took off after them when he made one of those giant clay birds of him and flew off. Kakashi sensei followed because Naruto was already starting to lose control of Kurama. I think he was hoping team Gui would finish quickly and come help us but they had their own problems to deal with so the two of us just dealt with him on our own."

"I see." Sasuke replied, he reached over and placed his hand on her head rubbing it affectionately.

She blushed and looked up at him when he removed his hand. "What was that for?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I was just thinking about how you became a fierce warrior while I was away. It's surprising, in a good way of course. There are only a handful of people in the world that have faced down a member of the Akatsuki and lived to tell about it." He smiled down at her. "I'm proud of you."

Sakura blushed the deepest shade of pink he'd ever seen and he smiled wider. His gaze fell to her mouth and he felt the same feeling from before. The desire to kiss her stronger than it had ever been before. Cautiously he reached out and tapped her in the middle of her forehead. She smiled sweetly at him spurring him onward and he trailed his fingers down from her forehead to her jaw tipping her face upward with the slight pressure of his fingers. He heard her breath catch in her throat as he leaned towards her his heart pounding in his chest. "Sakura." He breathed as he brought his lips towards hers. Just as he was about to close his eyes and close the distance, their blonde haired teammate appeared in the window carrying Onchou's limp body. Sasuke immediately dropped his hand and straightened up cursing himself for not sensing his best friend sooner. He looked banged up with his hair a mess and dirt smeared across his cheeks as he stepped in and laid the unconscious girl next to Ryuu. Sai quickly followed also looking a little ruffled with a few scratches on his torso and cheek.

"What happened?" Sakura demanded jumping to her feet and shaking her hair, claearly trying to clear her head. She quickly approached her teammates her hands glowing green as she checked them over for serious injuries.

Naruto stilled her hands and pushed them away. "Check on her first. She's the one that needs you." He responded motioning to the unconscious girl.

"Seriously, what happened?" Sasuke demanded irritated that his moment with Sakura had been ruined even if he was questioning himself now.

"I'm not sure." Naruto admitted. "It was like she was fighting with something inside of her. She had her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to hold herself together and then she screamed at us to get back. I felt a huge amount of chakra coming from her and she lifted her head towards the sky and a ball of energy exploded from her and flew into the air. She collapsed after that. All of this," he said gesturing to the dirt on his clothes and scratches on his face "was caused by us getting knocked back by the shock wave."

"Well that's alarming." Sasuke replied looking down at the girl. "I imagine that this is what Ryuu was talking about when he said that it was dangerous for her to use any more chakra today."

Naruto nodded. "That's what I was thinking. The question now is, what's happening to her?"

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck. "Who knows? It could be one of Takuma's experiments on her backfiring or something." He glanced at the girl that Sakura was hovering over. "What's her status?" he asked.

"She's unconscious and her chakra network is totally shot." She bit her lip and glanced down at the girl. "I think we need to get her to a hospital. She's going to be out of it for a while and although I could easily take care of her, I don't have the supplies I need." She brushed some hair out of the girl's face. "I also want to run some tests on her."

Naruto nodded. "What do you suggest Sakura?" he asked. "Should we take her back to The Leaf?"

Sakura sighed. "I'd like to because I know the staff and the equipment there better but it's a three day trip back there from where we are now if we move at top speed which would be next to impossible carrying her along with us." She pressed her fingers to her temples. "I think our best option is probably going to be taking her to The Hidden Sand instead. The medics there respect me so I think that it won't be a problem. It's where we were headed anyway."

"Good plan." Naruto agreed. "Does that sound good to everyone else?" the rest of the Leaf ninja nodded and he smirked. "Alright. First thing tomorrow morning, we'll head for the Hidden Sand. Sai, have you finished those notes?" he asked.

The pale ninja nodded. "I have. Would you like me to add a second one informing the Kazikage that we'll be arriving tomorrow?"

Naruto nodded and then turned to Sasuke. "I know." The Uchiha replied biting his thumb. He slammed it to the table and two birds appeared. A hawk and a bald eagle. Sai handed him the note to addressed to Kakashi and he attached it to the Eagle who immediately soared out the open window. He then attached the remaining note to the hawk who followed suit vanishing into the night on its way to the Village Hidden in the Sand.

"Now that that's over with, let's figure out who is going to sleep with who." Naruto said glancing at the two remaining beds.

"Damn! Not this again." Sasuke hissed pinching the bridge of his nose. After nearly kissing Sakura, sleeping next to her was going to be awkward as Hell.

"Why don't you sleep with Naruto?" Sakura suggested seeming to sense his hesitation. He cocked a brow at her. Did she really want to sleep with the painter or was she just afraid of sleeping with him now? "I mean, that way you don't end up on the floor. I kicked you out by accident the last time." She lied.

He sighed, she was being considerate of course. She must have thought that he'd actually stay in the bed with Naruto. No way, that idiot would end up wrapped around him in his sleep and he knew it. As close as they were, that was just too close for him. "The same arrangements as last time are fine." He replied.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive, now let's get to bed. Everyone is exhausted." He said shortly.

Less than an hour later, he was lying next to the pink haired medic on top of the blankets while she snuggled under them. Sakura sighed and turned towards him. "You really don't have to sleep with me if you don't want to." She told him. "I can sleep on the floor."

"If anyone sleeps on the floor it'll be me." He retorted.

She shook his head. "Stubborn as always. I don't bite you know."

He sighed. "I know that. I'm just not used to this."

She chuckled. "You'll never get used to it if you never try it." She replied.

"True enough." He acknowledged. "Fine, I'll stay in bed the entire night."

"Good." Sakura replied with a sleepy smile. "I'm glad to hear it."

He settled down beside her and smirked when once again she turned to curl against him in her sleep. His own eyes became heavy and as he drifted off to sleep it occurred to him that sleeping next to her wasn't that bad at all.

P.S. I wasn't expecting this chapter to come as quickly or easily as it did but I'm happy with how it turned out. I apologize to everyone on the verge of pulling their hair out over the almost kiss I just couldn't resist. ;) Anyway, I'm going out of town tomorrow so I won't be able to update for at least three days. The back to back chapters are my way of apologizing and I might write a little one shot before the end of the day too if I get a chance.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Notes: I'm back from vacation and now feel like a need a vacation to recover from it. Anyway, thanks for all the views, follows and such. I really appreciate it. I hope these next few chapters make up for the time I was gone.

Sakura tossed and turned caught in the throes of a nightmare as she slept.

"Sasuke!" she cried out watching as he attacked Naruto one of his eyes blood red and the other vibrant purple each glowing with a maniac type light as he came after the blonde again and again a manic grin plastered on his face. "Stop this! This isn't you!" she screamed as she sprinted towards the battle desperate to save the two men who meant more to her than any others in the world.

A woman with bright red hair and pink eyes appeared in front of her with blood dripping from her mouth. "He isn't the Sasuke you knew." She rasped before she gasped and a hand exploded form her chest crackling with lightning. Karin fell to the ground with a thud and Sasuke stood before her his arm dripping with the red head's blood. Sakura glanced around him and saw Naruto lying dying on the ground next to the obviously dead body of Kakashi. Her face turned white and she backed away as Sasuke walked towards her.

"Sakura." He said softly. "What's the matter? Is something bothering you?"

"Sasuke! What is this?" she demanded. "Why would you do this?!"

"I just wanted to prove that I'm the strongest." He looked her over and sighed. "Sorry Sakura, you're just not worth my time."

He turned away from her and she reached for him grabbing him by the sleeve. "Sasuke! Stop it!" she cried out.

He turned back to her with lightning blazing in his hand and plunged his arm through her chest. As she fell forward he caught her and his lips went to her ear. "You're such an annoyance!" he hissed pulling his hand from her chest and letting her fall to the floor. He reached towards her his hand covered in blood and touched her cheek smearing the rust colored liquid across her cheek bone. "What makes you think that I could ever love someone as boring, weak, and useless as you?"

Her eyes closed and tears streamed from her eyes as Sasuke began to laugh hovering over her while the life drained from her body.

"Sakura! Sakura!" she heard a voice calling to her. Her eyes flew open and she found herself face to face with the last Uchiha. She shrieked and tried to leap backwards getting tangled in the blankets instead and tumbled out of the bed her head smacking painfully against the bedside table as she hit the floor.

"Ouch!" she hissed pressing her palms to the sore spot squinting her eyes at the pain and the stars swimming in her vision.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked kneeling in front of his brow knit with concern. She looked at him and noted that one eye was black while the other was vivid purple reminding her of the cold eyes of her nightmare. He extended a hand towards her and she flinched smacking it away as the memory of his hand covered in blood overwhelmed her. His eyes widened and he leaned back before looking away.

"Sakura!" Naruto called out stumbling out of bed. "Is everything ok?" he asked kneeling beside the Uchiha and extending his hand to her touching her lightly on the shoulder his blue eyes searching her green eyes reflecting worry.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She replied with a little smile. "I just fell out of bed and smacked my head." She replied motioning to the bedside table.

"Ouch!" Naruto muttered wincing at the thought. "I bet that hurt. Do you want some ice or something?"

"I'll go get some myself." She said getting to her feet with the Uzamaki's help. "Sorry to disturb everyone's sleep."

"You didn't disturb everyone's sleep." Naruto protested. "Onchou and Ryuu are still sleeping."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Two out of six. It's my lucky day." She walked towards the door. "I'll be back."

"Do you want me, Sai or Sasuke to go with you?" he asked.

The pink haired medic glanced around. Naruto wasn't the best option, he would be too loud, Sasuke was out of the question because of the nightmare she'd just had but she did want company.

"Would you mind coming with me Sai?" she asked looking at the painter who was sitting quietly on his bed.

"Not at all. I'll come." He said rising as she walked towards him.

"Thanks. It'll only take a few minutes." She said as he walked ahead of her and opened the door waiting a moment for her to go through and then followed himself closing the door behind him. They walked in silence for a few moments and neared the ice machine in the hall. She grabbed a bag and was about to fill it when she instead opted to lean against the wall and slid down until she was sitting.

"Sakura?" Sai asked kneeling down next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Sakura covered her face as tears began to slide down her cheeks. "I hurt him." She replied softly.

"Hurt who?" Sai asked.

"Sasuke." She replied softly. "I could see it in his eyes." She murmured.

"What happened?" Sai asked settling down next to her.

"I… I had a nightmare." She admitted. "You know that Sasuke and Naruto had that awful battle right? The one where they lost their arms?" Sai nodded. "Well, I was going to go and try to stop them but Sasuke used a genjutsu on me instead. He showed me a vision of him using the chidori on me and ripping out my heart."

Sai's eyes widened. "I hadn't heard that." He admitted.

She nodded. "It became part of my nightmare and when I woke up he reached out to me and I slapped his hand away." She pulled her knees close to her chest. "I know that he's sorry, I know that he regrets what he did to me and everyone else and… I love him. I really do love him so why…" she hiccupped as the tears flowed faster.

Sai reached out to her and pulled her into a hug. "It's alright." He said softly. "Having nightmares doesn't mean that you love him any less. The reality of the matter is that you experienced many frightening things because of him. It's only natural that you'd react that way in response while your mind was still trying to separate dream from reality. He knows that."

"I didn't mean to hurt him." She whimpered.

Sai gently ran his hand over her hair in a comforting motion. "I know, so does Sasuke." He replied.

Sasuke stared at the door his heart aching in his chest as he recalled her face in his mind over and over again, the fear reflected in her green eyes as she looked at him. He'd reached out to her with the intention of comforting her and she'd not only rejected him but fled from him. It cut him deeper than he'd ever expected.

"What's eating you Sasuke?" Naruto asked from where he sat next to him on the bed.

"Nothing." The Uchiha replied quickly.

"Don't lie to me." The blond haired boy replied narrowing his eyes. "It's written all over your face that something is wrong. Just tell me before I beat it out of you."

Sasuke glared at his friend and then sighed. "Sakura was having a nightmare. I could tell by the way she was moving in her sleep." Her murmured. He glanced over at his friend who wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and smacked him in the back of the head. "Don't be a perve about it or I won't say another word!" he threatened.

"Alright. I'm done. Keep going." Naruto replied rubbing the new aching spot on his head.

"Anyway, I could tell it was getting pretty bad because of how hard she was thrashing and she was crying out in her sleep and I wanted to save her from whatever she was seeing and I tried to wake her up." Sasuke explained.

"Let me guess. She punched you in the face?" Naruto volunteered with a grin.

"No. If she had it probably would've hurt less." Sasuke muttered.

"What do you mean?" The blond haired ninja asked.

"When she looked at me, she had nothing but fear in her eyes. She fell out of bed trying to get away from me." He replied softly looking down at his hands. "When I reached out to her trying to comfort her, she pushed me away." He clenched his hands into fists. "I never imagined it would hurt this much."

Naruto nodded. "I see. It's probably the first time she's ever rejected you huh?"

Sasuke nodded. "I know that I've hurt her in the past but…" his fist trembled. "She said that she forgives me." He looked over at his best friend. "I swore to myself that I'd never hurt her like that again but still… Maybe she hasn't forgiven me after all." He murmured. "I wouldn't blame her if that's the case."

Naruto shook his head. "You can be pretty stupid sometimes you know that?"

Sasuke glared at him. "What are you saying?" he growled. "I'm being honest here."

"So am I." The Uzamaki replied. "Sakura does forgive you but that doesn't mean she's forgotten what happened." He explained. "She probably had a nightmare that had to do with you and was still trying to get the two separated when you tried to touch her and panicked. It happens to everyone."

The dark eyed man nodded and then bowed his head raking his hands through his hair. "I can't believe she can still love me after everything I put her through." He muttered.

Naruto sighed "That's just Sakura for you. She's a one in a million kind of girl." He said with a smile. "You already know that though."

Sasuke didn't reply. It was true. Only Sakura would be able to love someone that tried to take their life on multiple occasions. Karin was similar to her in that regard he supposed but in a much more simplistic way. Her affections for him had always been skin deep, or rather chakra deep. He wasn't stupid or naïve, he knew that Karin liked him for his looks, power, and chakra nothing more. It had worked out to his advantage while he was a rouge ninja that she was clingy and obsessive but that was about it.

"You're not the only one you know." Naruto said after a moment.

"Not the only one who what?" He asked.

"You're not the only one who has ever hurt Sakura." The whiskered shiniobi said softly. He laced his hands together and bowed his head. "In fact, I nearly killed her once myself, using my own hands."

Sasuke's dark eyes widened as he looked over at his friend. "What are you saying?" he demanded. "What happened?"

Naruto sighed. "I was about two and a half years after you left the village. The new team seven had just been established with Sai and Yamato was leading us because Kakashi was out after battling Deidara. Sasori had told Sakura that one of Orochimaru's henchmen was working for him as a spy and he was going to meet him. Team seven was sent to intercept the spy." He took a deep breath. "As you know, when Sai first joined us things weren't going well. I was already pretty riled up because I knew a step closer to Orochimaru was a step closer to bringing you home and Sai taking cheap shots at everyone wasn't helping my mood either." Sasuke chewed on his bottom lip as a little pang of guilt throbbed in his chest and nodded. "Well, as it turns out, it was Kabuto and Orochimaru who met us on that bridge. I saw that snake bastard and I…" he gritted his teeth. "He started talking about you like he owned you and that really pissed me off. The nine tails began to take over and I broke the bridge and sent Kabuto flying and then went after Orochimaru. What I didn't know was that Kabuto as hit Sakura and knocked her out." The blue eyed boy took a deep breath. "She nearly fell to her death when the bridge began to fall apart and Yamato had to rescue her because at that time Sai was still a heartless bastard and left her for dead. As if that wasn't bad enough, I eventually transformed into a smaller version of the ninetails with four tails and lost my mind. While I was in that state, Saukra came after me trying to bring me back to my senses and I…." he clenched his hands together. "I attacked her. If Captain Yamato hadn't been there and stopped me, I'm pretty sure I would've killed her." Sasuke's eyes widened. He'd never known Naruto had struggled that badly. "It was a pretty nasty wound. Kabuto tried to heal is and so did Sakura but it still bothered her for some time afterwards. She fell out of a tree and had to be rescued again because of it during that same mission. In fact she had it that day." He glanced over at his best friend. "When we saw you again after infiltrating Orochimaru's hideout."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He hadn't noticed it at all."I see." he said softly.

Naruto clasped him on the shoulder. "The point is, she still loved me and stayed by my side after that. She still loves me now. I know she had nightmares about it afterwards and felt awful about them. In fact, I'm pretty sure she's probably crying her eyes out right now because she feels bad for reacting that way to you."

Sasuke's sighed and lowered his head. "I see, but you weren't in your right mind when you did that." He argued.

The blonde smiled at him. "And neither were you when you did all of those things to her and she knows that."

The dark eyed Uchiha chucked and shook his head. "Naruto, you're such an idiot you know that?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well it takes one to know one." He said as the door clicked and Sai and Sakura walked inside carrying a bag of ice.

Sasuke looked closely at her noting the tear stains on her face and the redness and puffiness of her eyes. Naruto was right, she'd been crying.

"Sorry we took so long." She said with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. "The ice machine on this level was broken so we had to go find another one."

"That's ok." Naruto said with a smile. "As long as you got what you needed."

She nodded and put the bucket of ice down on the bedside table. Her eyes remained downcast as she approached him. "Sasuke, I-" she started.

He reached out a hand to her and laid it gently on top of her head. "You don't have to say it." He replied quickly. "I already know you're sorry. There's no reason for you to be."

"All the same, I really am sorry for pushing you away like that." She said lowering her head.

Sasuke nodded. "Alright. Let's just try to get some sleep."

Sakura nodded. "That sounds good. Morning is going to be here much earlier than any of us want it to be." She glanced at the clock and groaned. "You've got to be kidding me!" she hissed.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"It's already morning." She grumbled pointing to the numbers proudly displaying the time as five thirty in the morning.

"Oh man!" The blonde grumbled. "It's not worth it to go back to bed for thirty minutes."

"Yeah. I know. Sorry guys." Sakura muttered.

"It's fine." Sai replied. "Journeying through the Land of Wind is a hot and dry endeavor. The earlier we get going, the less time we'll have to spend under the sun."

"That's true." Naruto replied. "I've never understood how Gaara can wear those thick long sleeved outfits of his in that heat."

Sakura chuckled as she knelt beside her bag and pulled out a change of clothes. "It's because of how pale his skin is. He'd burn terribly if he didn't wear clothes like that. Besides, it gets extremely cold after dark there too."

"That's true. I guess I never really thought of that." The blonde replied.

The pink haired medic approached the bedside of her sleeping patient and reached out touching a hand to her forehead. Her brow creased and her hand glowed green in the dim light filtering through the window.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" Sasuke asked noticing her efforts right away.

"She's burning up." She replied frowning even as the green light around her hand increased. "Damn!" she hissed. "Her network is still too banged up for me to get enough chakra into her body to bring it down." She reached over and shook the silver haired boy sleeping next to Onchou awake.

"Ryuu!" she called out quietly. "I need you to get up."

The boy groaned and rolled reaching out to touch the hand of the dark skinned girl as he did so. His eyes shot open and he sat bold upright. "What a terrible fever!" he said moving up and brushing the hair away from her neck. He laid his lips over the pulse point there and closed his eyes before moving away and frowning. "Crap! She hasn't had a fever this high in years." He grumbled.

"What happened last time?" Sakura asked as she rushed over to her bag and began pulling out medicinal herbs.

"I don't know. It was a secret mission that she went on with Akira. She had a fever this high when she came back." He explained.

"How was she treated?" Sakura asked as she began mixing medicine.

"She was out of commission for two weeks." Ryuu replied getting down from the bed. "That was with Takuma's advanced medicine and medical jutsu too."

Sakura nodded and finished her mixture and quickly mixed it with water. She handed the cup to Ryuu. "Try to get as much as this into her as you can. It should help bring down her fever." She turned to her other travel companions. "Get it together boys!" she barked. "She's in critical condition. We need to get her to The Hidden Sand Village as soon as possible."

She picked up her bundle of clothes again and dashed into the bathroom.

Naruto chuckled and touched Sasuke on the shoulder. "One in a million for sure. One minute she's crying over a nightmare and the next she's barking orders."

"I heard that Naruto!" Sakura called out from the bathroom.

The Uzamaki swallowed loudly and cringed at the girl's tone and Sasuke merely smirked. He still wanted to talk to her about her nightmare so he could figure out a way to fix it but until then, it was time to get down to business.

"Who do you think should carry her and Ryuu?" Sai asked after the ninja had changed.

"I don't need to be carried." Ryuu replied. "I'm not slow."

"I believe you but we're going to have to move very quickly to get Onchou to the hospital before she gets sicker." Sakura explained to the child. "Also, we're going to The Village Hidden in the Sand and they're a little more cautions than we are. Gaara is a good friend of Naruto and I but…" she leaned down to whisper into Ryuu's ear. "He doesn't like Sasuke much." He giggled and she smiled and returned her volume to normal. "Which means we have to be extra careful because we're bringing you outsiders in with us."

"Alright." Ryuu conceited. He looked at the four shinobi in turn and touched his hand to his chin. "I think Onchou should be carried by Naruto." He said after a moment.

"Sounds good to me." The blonde boy said with a smile. "Why me though?"

"You did a pretty good job last time." The child replied. He then turned his attention to the other shinobi after a few moments he let out a long suffering sigh. "I guess I'll ride on Scary Eyes back."

Sasuke's brow twitched at the nick name and he shot Naruto a murderous glare when he snorted at the name. "Why not Sakura or Sai's back?" Sasuke replied trying to keep his voice calm. The last thing he wanted was to carry the brat across the desert.

Ryuu crossed his arms over his chest. "That's easy. I don't like you or trust you. If I'm already on your back if won't be hard to slit your throat if you try anything."

The four shinobi blinked their eyes and then shook their heads. "You had a rough childhood didn't you kid?" Naruto muttered. "Sasuke won't try anything I promise. It would be a bad idea to kill him too because he can sense the enemy faster than anyone else."

Ryuu sighed. "I guess you do have a point. Fine, I won't kill him but I still want to ride on his back."

Sasuke raked his hand through his hair and groaned. "Fine! Whatever! Let's get moving!" he snarled. "The girl seems to be getting sicker. I can sense chakra leaking from her."

Naruto nodded and lifted the sick girl onto his back adjusting her carefully so that his hold was secure but not too tight. "Sakura, lead out." He said quickly.

The pink haired medic nodded. "Right. Of course."

Sasuke knelt down so that the boy could scramble onto his back and hooked his arms around the boy's legs. "Hold on." He said simply.

In a flash the four shinobi were into the trees moving swiftly towards the desert ahead.

The child was quiet through most of the journey speaking very little but a little after lunch time Ryuu spoke to him. "So, you're Sasuke Uchiha." He said quietly. Sasuke nodded in response unsure of what the boy was getting at. "Can you really summon giant snakes and a man as big as a mountain?" he asked.

"I can." Sasuke replied.

"Wow. That's actually pretty cool." The boy admitted before continuing. "Can you tell me about your friends?" he asked.

"What do you want to know?" Sasuke replied.

"I don't know. The basic stuff I guess. Their abilities, what kind of people they are." Ryuu replied. "I've never really had the chance to get to know many people outside the laboratory."

Sasuke sighed. The kid reminded him of naïve Yukimaru but at least he wasn't speaking in riddles like that child did.

"Ok. Pick one to start." Sasuke said as he lengthened his stride the trees thinning and giving way to more desert as they moved.

Ryuu thought for a moment glancing around. "How about that guy, the one who's even paler than you in black." He said his gaze settled on Sai.

Sasuke sighed. Of course the kid picked the member of the team he knew the least about. "That's Sai. He's quiet and a little awkward but very smart." He replied. "He's a very talented Ninja. Do you see the scrolls of paper on his hip?" he asked. The boy nodded and he continued. "His special ability is that he can pain whatever he wants on those scrolls and bring them to life." He heard Ryuu's gasp and smirked.

"Really? Anything?" Ryuu asked.

"I think so. I've seen him paint lots of things. He paints birds to fly in the sky, mice to check for people spying form the shadows, lions to attack, and even snakes to tie people up with." He explained to the child.

"Wow. That's so cool!" he exclaimed. His gaze shifted. "Ok, tell me about the blonde guy next."

Sasuke sighed, he didn't even know where to start with him. "That's Naruto Uzamaki. I'm sure you've heard some things about him."

The child nodded. "Yeah. I heard that he can summon giant toads and that he has a fox inside of him."

"Both of those things are true." Sasuke replied. "He's a very powerful shinobi, maybe even the most powerful in the world, but that's not the best thing about him."

"What's the best thing about him?" Ryuu asked.

Sasuke smiled. "He never gives up." He replied. "He saved my life even when I didn't want to be saved."

Ryuu shifted a little to get a better look at him. "What didn't you want to be saved from?" he asked.

Sasuke sighed. He didn't feel like talking about it but it was a kid and this was better than listening to Suegetsu whine about needing a break every five minutes. "The curse of my clan." He replied. "They were cursed with hatred and a thirst for power. I fell victim to it and became a terrible person. Naruto never gave up on me though. He kept chasing me trying to bring me back." He chuckled. "That idiot finally caught me and dragged me kicking and screaming back to my senses and helped me defeat my curse." He smiled at the blonde leaping just a few feet ahead of him. "He can also make friends with just about anyone, even people who were once his enemies."

Ryuu nodded. "He must have some kind of super power."

Sasuke chuckled. "You might be right about that."

The child then looked at Sakura. "What about her? Onchou called her Sakura, is that right? What can you tell me about her?"

Sasuke looked ahead at the pink haired medic who was sprinting across the sand while also checking on the girl's condition. He shook his head at her recklessness before he spoke. "Sakura… what to tell you about her." He murmured. "She's probably the best medical ninja in the world." He confessed. "She's also one of the strongest. I've seen her break a boulder the size of house into pieces with just one punch."

"Wow!" Ryuu exclaimed. "I didn't know a girl could be that strong."

The dark eyed Uchiha nodded. "She's strong alright. Inside and out. She's always pushing herself to the limit and that mark on her forehead is something that very few people have ever achieved. She worked hard for three years to earn that."

Ryuu smiled. "Wow. You and your friends are pretty amazing." The boy admitted. He lowered his head and sighed. "I'm really sorry for how rude I've been."

Sasuke glanced back at the child after landing on an outcropping of rock overlooking the desert. Naruto nodded and leapt from the cliff and then picked up the pace. The Uchiha followed it bringing up the right flank of his friend while Sai took the rear and Sakura took the left.

"For as long as I can remember, Onchou has always been fighting, always getting hurt to protect people." He chewed on his lip. "I really hope she's ok. I'm afraid that something bad is going to happen to us. We have no home, no friends, no family, all we have is each other. I just didn't want you to hurt her."

"Don't worry about it kid." Sasuke replied. "Sakura will take good care of Onchou."

Ryuu nodded and then became quiet. After a little while, Sasuke spoke. "Is something bothering you Ryuu?"

The boy sighed. "It's just something Onchou said not to long ago. We were talking about what we wanted most in the world and when I asked her she said that she just wanted me to be happy and safe. I told her that I wanted the same for her and she started crying. When I asked her why, she said that she didn't deserve to be happy and that being with me and caring for me was already more happiness than she deserved." Sasuke's brow furrowed. This girl seemed to think a lot like he did. It was probably why she irritated him so much. "I don't think that's true though. Everyone deserves to be happy as long as their happiness doesn't spoil someone else's happiness right?"

Sasuke sighed. "I'm not the person you should be asking that question." He murmured. "I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to things like that."

"What do you mean?" Ryuu asked.

Sasuke sighed. "You know about the fourth great ninja war right?" Ryuu nodded. "Well, I fought in that war. I actually started out on the wrong side too. I ended up fighting on the right side eventually but… it wasn't for the right reasons." He sighed. "The war was much bigger than you will ever know. It spiraled out of control and eventually became a battle so save the world." He glanced forward at his two friends. "I fought alongside Naruto, Sakura, and the now sixth Hokage Kakashi and we somehow managed to pull it off."

"Well isn't that a good thing? You saved the world with your friends right?" Ryuu said simply.

Sasuke sighed. "Well, after all of that I was still angry. I thought that having friends made you weak and that relying on people and then losing them was so painful that it was better to have no friends at all. Instead of celebrating with my friends, I attacked them instead. I knocked Sakura out and then fought Naruto. We nearly killed each other. Did you notice how our arms are bandaged?" the boy nodded. "Well that's from out fight. We both lost an arm." He sighed.

Ryuu shook his head and sighed as well. "Wow, Onchou was right. You Uchiha's do ruin everything don't you? I mean instead of throwing a party to celebrate saving the world, you blew your arm off instead."

Sasuke chuckled. "Yeah, like I said, I'm an idiot when it comes to stuff like that." He looked at Naruto who shifted the unconscious girl on his back and then at Sakura who reached out with her chakra and frowned clearly bothered by the girl's condition.

The silver haired boy clucked his tongue. "You know, you should just stop." He said.

"Stop? What do you mean stop?" Sasuke replied.

"Stop being an idiot when it comes to stuff like that." Ryuu elaborated.

"That's one of the vaguest things I've ever heard." Sasuke replied his tone bitter.

"Not really. If you do something and don't like the way it felt than don't do it again." He said simply. "Onchou said that people have the ability to change things in the present and effect the future because we can move and have the ability to manipulate matter. If I don't like my water warm, I can put ice in it to make it cold. Does that makes sense?"

"Sort of. You're pretty smart for a brat. So tell me, what if you've already done something terrible in the past like me and I guess Onchou?" Sasuke replied

Ryuu laughed. "Oh that one's easy! Just don't make the same mistake again and keep moving forward instead. Make something beautiful in the future to make up for the ugly." He said with a smile. "Thinking that way, maybe even the stupid Uchiha's who ruin everything can become the awesome Uchiha's who fix everything."

The dark eyed former avenger nearly lost his footing at that remark. Just like Sakura's comment about him becoming the kind of man Itachi would be proud of, this kid had said something that had lifted a small ounce of weight from his broken heart. "You know what? You talk too much." He replied.

"Hey! You're the one that asked the question!" the boy shot back.

"Are you two behaving back there?" Sakura demanded.

"Yes of course." Sasuke replied quickly.

"Good because we're nearly there." Naruto replied as the walls of The Village Hidden in the Sand appeared before them.

"I really hope that Gaara got our message about us showing up early or this is really going to suck." Naruto muttered as his eyes caught movement on the cliffs. "Their guards make ours look like pansies."

Sasuke activated his sharringan and scanned the tired walls of the village noting the number of guards and their movements. His eyes came to the opening leading into the village and he noted four people standing there.

"Naruto. It looks like Gaara was excited to see you. He's waiting just inside the main gate with his siblings and some other person." He called out. It was a lie, at least the last part. He knew exactly who that last person was. It was Leo the sand shinobi who was interested in Sakura but he wasn't quite ready to fess up to confronting the tall man just yet.

"Good news!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm pretty psyched myself! It's been too long since I've seen old no brows." the four shinobi and their passengers slowed as they neared the gates and the Kazikage stepped forward.

"Naruto Uzamaki." He said in his low, deliberate drawl. "It's been a while."

Naruto grinned. "It sure has! It's good to see you Gaara!"

Leo stepped forward and beamed at Sakura. "It seems you ended up coming here after all Lady Sakura."

"Yes. It might be for official business but I'm glad I was able to come none the less." She replied with a smile.

"Hey! That tall guy, do you know him?" Ryuu hissed in Sasuke's ear.

"Not really." Sasuke replied. "I've seen him before."

"Well, he totally has a thing for your girlfriend." The silver haired child whispered. "It's written all over his face."

The dark haired man sighed. "She's not my girlfriend. She can do what she wants, I don't care."

Ryuu snorted. "Who do you think you're kidding? I'm only a kid and I can tell that's a lie."

The dark haired man took a deep breath and then focused as Gaara turned towards him. "Sasuke Uchiha. I'm surprised to see you here."

The Uchiha could hear the slight hardness in the Kazikage's tone evidence that the man didn't truly trust him. He didn't blame him however, he'd probably feel the same way given the circumstances.

"Thank you for coming all this way to greet us." Sasuke replied removing Ryuu from his back and bowing.

"Why are you bowing to that ginger with raccoon eyes?" Ryuu asked.

Naruto snorted and Sakura groaned touching her forehead with her hand. Sasuke and Sai merely shook their heads.

"Ryuu, this is Gaara of the Sand. He's the leader of the Village Hidden in the Sand and reigns over all of the shinobi in the Land of Wind." Sakura explained.

"What exactly does all that mean to me?" Ryuu asked. "I was literally born under a rock remember?"

Naruto laughed. "Wow! Does Onchou know you talk like that?"

Ryuu blushed and looked down. "Yes, but she says it's rude."

"Who is this strange looking child?" Tamari asked moving forward. "He's not very polite."

"Wow! That fan is huge!" Ryuu exclaimed his eyes wide.

"He's this girl's companion." Sasuke explained gesturing to the girl draped over Naruto's back.

"Speaking of which, I hate to be a bother but this girl needs urgent medical treatment." Sakura said moving to Onchou's side touching her forehead as she rested on Naruto's back. "Damn! The medication I gave her is wearing off." The pink haired medic turned toward the Kazikage and his entourage. "Please, can I talk with you a little later? Her fever is so high I'm starting to worry about potential brain damage and all of this exposure to the heat of the sun didn't help at all."

Gaara turned and looked at the young woman his eyes narrowing slightly. "So this is the woman you wrote of? I suppose she won't be able to give us any decent answers in her current condition and this present turn of events is unsettling. The faster she is able to recover and provide us with information the better."

"Hey raccoon eyes!" Ryuu hissed. "Don't talk about Onchou like she's some sort of information capsule or something!"

"Calm down." Sasuke said softly putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Onchou is cautions of strangers because she wants to protect you right?" the boy nodded. "This man is the same. He has to protect everyone in this village and he doesn't know you or Onchou. He has every right to be cautions. Try to be patient so that we can get her the helps she needs faster alright? She can't go to the hospital unless he says so."

Ryuu balled his hands into fists and moved forward touching Onchou's clammy, limp hand. Tears formed in his eyes and he fell to his knees on the ground in front of Gaara's feet his forehead touching the sandy ground. "Please let us in! Onchou can't die! She's the only person I have in this whole world!"

The Kazikage's pale blue eyes widened slightly and he glanced at Naruto. "What do you think of this woman?" he asked.

"She's very sick and apparently she and this kid are on the run from a guy who's cut from the same cloth as Orochimaru. She has incredible power and saved our skins shortly after meeting us. I wouldn't have brought her if I thought she was a danger to your village." Naruto said calmly.

Gaara nodded. "Very well then. Please come inside. Deliver that girl to the hospital and then we'll discuss what you know so far in my office."

"Thank you." Naruto said bowing slightly. He turned to his team. "Sakura, let's get her taken care of. The rest of you head over to the Kazikage's office."

"Wait! Take me with you!" Ryuu cried out running after Sakura. "I need to stay with Onchou!"

Sakura shook her head and knelt in front of the boy. "Not right now. You need to stay with Sasuke and Sai for now. Onchou is very sick so you won't be able to stay in the room with her for a little while. You need to tell Lord Gaara your story too so that you and Onchou will be able to stay here for a little while ok?" she touched his head. "I promise you that I will not let her die, ok?"

The dark eyed Uchiha smiled as he watched the interaction. Sakura dispite her temper was actually very good with children. As he watched a vision entered his mind of her touching the head of another child with dark hair like his own. He shook his head to will the vision away and then focused on Ryuu again.

The ruby eyed child sniffed as tears began to brim in his eyes. "Ok." He finally conceited. He moved to Onchou and stretched up on his toes kissing her temple. "Get better soon ok?"

Sasuke moved forward and tugged the child back as Naruto and Sakura vanished. "She's be fine. Onchou is tough and Sakura is the best medical ninja around. Just have faith in them." Sai said smiling at the child. "Let's go to the Kazikage's office."

Ryuu nodded. "I still say he looks like a raccoon." He muttered glaring at the path the Kazikage had taken with his arms crossed over his chest.

Sai chuckled. "I agree with you but I probably wouldn't say that to his face anymore. People can be sensitive about things like that."

Sasuke snickered. "Like you're one to talk. How many times have you been sucker punched for calling Sakura Ugly?"

Sai smirked. "That's why I'm warning the boy now."

P.S. Sorry for the lack of sugary sweet Sakura Saskue moments. I promise the next chapter will have a lot more, I just needed to get them to the sand village so they'd have a chance to be alone together. It took me a little longer than I expected is all. Anyway, I'm hoping to have the next chapter done by the end of the week so stay tuned!


	11. Chapter 11

Sakura sighed and wiped her brow as she took a step away from the girl laying on the bed in front of her. Medication was now running into directly into her system via IV and she'd managed to finally get the terrible fever under control. She was surprised at how accurate Ryuu's assertion of the situation was, according to her calculations, it would probably be two weeks before the girl would be fully recovered. How soon it would be before the girl woke up however was another matter entirely. Thankfully, there was no brain damage in spite of girl's impossibly high temperature and her chakra network was slowly but surely repairing itself, whether it would ever go back to normal wasn't clear to the pink haired medic yet.

"Thanks for helping out." Sakura said with a smile to the medic standing nearby. "She's out of the woods for now. I'm going to speak with the Kazikage now, please send for me if her condition worsens."

"Yes of course Lady Sakura." The blonde young man said bowing to her.

The pink haired woman smile and walked out of the hospital quickly making her way to the Kazikage's office building.

"Hey there!" Leo said with a smile. "I'll walk you up to where the meeting is being held."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." She replied walking beside him.

"So they're letting Sasuke Uchiha out on missions now?" the tall man asked his tone a little bitter.

Sakura choose to ignore it his biting tone and nodded. "Yes. He was put on this mission because we were worried that Ryuu might possess the sharringan. His area of expertise is ocular jutsu so it was natural that he'd be assigned to this mission."

Leo sighed. "Even so, it's hard to believe that he's really on our side."

Sakura's hand balled into a fist at her side. "Leo, I know full well what you're hinting at and I don't appreciate it. Sasuke is on this mission because he wants to protect the shinobi world from dangerous situations. He really is sorry for everything that happened."

"Are you just telling yourself that because he was once your teammate?" Leo asked.

She glared at the tall man. "No. It's because I know it's the truth." She glanced ahead as the memory of Sasuke breaking down in her bedroom filled her mind.

They arrived at the door to the Kazikage's office and she glanced up at Leo. "Thanks for bringing me here." She said stiffly.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. Maybe we can meet up later to talk some more?" he offered.

"We'll see. After this I need to check on my patient and then get in contact with the Hokage." She replied. She rapped softly on the door of the office in front of her and heard Gaara's low voice instruct her to enter.

"How is she!?" Ryuu demanded launching himself at the pink haired medic his ruby eyes wide.

"She's not in any immediate danger anymore. I managed to bring her fever down and now she's resting peacefully." She replied touching the boy on the head.

"Thank goodness." Ryuu breathed.

"So Onchou is doing alright?" Naruto asked from where he stood next to Gaara.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. It's just as Sasuke said, it seems like her body is trying to reject something. Probably a side effect of one of Takuma's experiments. I'm running some tests to figure out exactly what it is."

"Good luck with that." Ryuu replied crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Takuma was always concocting some weird drug to force on us. I don't think I can remember a day that he didn't inject us with something."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Wait! He gave you injections every day?"

Ryuu nodded. "Yup, every stinking day. In the same spot. It got to a point where it didn't even hurt anymore."

"Where?" She demanded.

Ryuu sighed and approached her. He turned his back to her and shifted his long silver hair over one shoulder and lifted it pointing to a spot at the base of his skull where an angry looking metallic, black mark rested. She reached out and touched if frowning as she gripped something and pulled revealing a small hole.

"That's what I thought." She muttered. "A pic line that's directly connected to the spinal column."

"What's wrong Sakura?" Sasuke asked moving forward. "Can I take a look?"

"I'm not a freak show!" Ryuu hissed.

"I know that. I just want to confirm something." The dark haired Uchiha replied. He reached out and touched the black ring around the small hole. "I thought so."He said.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"It's just like the marks on Orochimaru's test subjects that he grew in the lab." He looked down at the boy. "You spent a lot of time in a glass cylinder didn't you?"

Ryuu nodded and moved his hair back. "Yeah. That's where I was most of the time unless Takuma needed me to do something outside like training and experimenting or the occasional mission. Onchou would often come into the lab visited me there. She let me out whenever she could but it wasn't often. That's probably why this place makes me so tired. The air is so dry." He said yawning.

Sakura nodded and touched a hand to her chin. "It's possible that if Onchou was receiving daily injections, what she could be experiencing is withdrawals from one of the drugs she was administered."

Sasuke nodded. "That actually makes a lot of sense." He replied. "Some of Orochimaru's test subjects were like that. Particularly those whom he experimented with on a cellular level. Things got ugly quickly."

"This Takuma, he is the one who held you and this woman captive?" Gaara said from where he was seated at his desk.

Ryuu nodded. "Yes."

"What do you know about this man?" Gaara asked.

"Not much I'm afraid. He specializes in human experimentation. I feel like I've said this a million times but Onchou knows more about him and his plans than I do." He replied.

"Very well." Gaara replied. "Just give me your opinion then, do you think Takuma is a powerful man?"

Ryuu nodded. "Yes I do." He replied. "I can sense chakra very well and though his is tainted, it's defiantly very strong."

The red head nodded. "Alright. If he's as strong as you say, why do you think it is that he hasn't tried to do anything but experiment on people using his abilities?" he asked.

Ryuu thought for a moment. "I don't really know. During the Fourth Great Ninja War he watched the fighting from a distance. He said that he was just going to watch things play out since he didn't really mind which way the fighting went." His brow furrowed. "I think that he just doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself." He touched his chin. "It might also be because he likes being in charge too much. If he entered the war, he would've had to choose sides and let someone else boss him around." He sighed. "I really don't know. He's very strange."

Gaara sighed. "As I suspected. The woman with him likely has the information we need to accurately assess the situation."

Ryuu glared at the red haired man. "She has a name raccoon eyes!" he snapped. "It's Onchou!"

Sakura looked at the boy. "Ryuu, what's wrong?" she asked taking in the child's stiff posture and angry eyes.

He grit his teeth and glared at the floor. "In that place… Takuma was adamant that we call him by his name, but he never said ours." He balled his hands into fists. "He didn't give us names or use the ones we had."

"What did he do instead?" Sakura asked.

"He called us by number or nothing at all." He replied. He rolled up his sleeve and pointed to a brand on his shoulder. "Until Onchou named me Ryuu this is what I was called. Number 432 or that boy."

Sakura bowed her head trying to quiet the anger inside of her. "I'm sorry Ryuu." She said softly.

"It's fine. It just makes me angry." He replied.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to offend you." Gaara said softly. "I can tell you care for her very much and you just want to protect her." Ryuu glanced at the Kazikage his eyes wary. "Don't worry, I don't intend to hurt her like Takuma did. I need to find out everything about him so that I can keep you and your friend safe from him."

"Oh." Ryuu replied. He thought for a moment. "Well, I know that he came from The Land of Wind but I'm not sure what village." He replied.

Gaara's eyes widened at that. "Did he really? How do you know that?"

"We came through this country several years ago. When we were traveling, he said that it was dryer and hotter than he remembered. Onchou asked him if he'd been there before and he replied that he'd been born and raised there." His brow furrowed. "In fact, if I remember right, she was born in this country too. We were looking for this village because Onchou's mother told her that her father was from this village."

"I see." Gaara said writing down a note in one of his scrolls. "Thank you for your help. It seems that we need to wait for this… I mean Onchou to regain consciousness to learn more about this man. In the meantime, you're welcome to stay here."

Naruto smiled. "Awesome! Thanks Gaara! We have a lot of catching up to do. I have a girlfriend now!" he exclaimed putting an arm around the red haired sand shinobi.

Sakura smiled at the way the blue eyed man tensed initially at the contact and then relaxed a rare smile crossing his face. The thought briefly crossed her mind that he looked very good looking with it on.

"Naruto." She murmured softly as the blonde grinned at the Kazikage. "You really are something."

"He is isn't he?" Sasuke replied moving closer to her.

"Shall we all go somewhere for dinner? I'm starved after crossing that bloody desert carrying a human space heater on my back." The Uzamaki whined.

Gaara nodded. "I know a place."

Saskue and Sakura walked side by side a couple of paces behind Gaara and Naruto with Sai and Ryuu following a couple of paces behind them. The boy was talking animatedly with the quiet ninja about his painting and Sai was patiently answering all of his questions. Sasuke watched as Naruto talked animatedly with the quiet and reserved Gaara telling him the details of the moon mission that had brought himself and Hinata together.

"It's crazy how Naruto has the ability to make friends with everyone isn't it?" Sakura said after a few moments.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. I don't know how he does it."

The pink haired medic smiled. "It's simple, he might be a loudmouth but he can see things we can't." Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Sakura shook her head. "I didn't mean literally, I meant that he has a way of being able to hear what people are saying in their hearts." She smiled. "Back during the Chunin exams we all thought Gaara as was a monster because that's all we could see and what everyone had told us. Naruto could see right through that though, he saw right into Gaara's heart and knew that he was just like him, a broken boy who had never been given a fair chance."

Sasuke nodded. "That's true. He saw right through me too. That's probably why I hated him so much. I knew that he knew how I really felt and it ticked me off. I had this stupid idea in my head that no one could ever understand how I was feeling."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. It gets annoying sometimes that he can see right through everything."

Sasuke nodded as the group entered a cozy restaurant and sat down together. Ryuu looked down at the menu and frowned.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure what to order. Onchou always did this for me before. I don't even know what I like." He admitted.

Naruto laughed. "Order ramen! You can never go wrong with that."

"Just because you can eat that stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner doesn't mean that everyone else can." Sakura replied leaning towards the boy. "Here, let me help you."

Sasuke watched her and again his mind manipulated the image to one of Sakura leaning over to help a dark haired child who bore the Uchiha crest on their back. He groaned and smacked his forehead willing the images away. Was he serious fantasizing about having a child with her?

"Fantasizing about Sakura eh?" Naruto whispered in the Uchiha's ear.

Sasuke jumped and then glared daggers at his best friend who has chuckling behind a bandaged hand. "Naruto!" he hissed blush tinging his cheeks.

"What? I was just kidding." The blonde boy insisted, "I was right though, wasn't I?"

The dark eyed man sighed. "You're just as annoying as ever."

"Yeah, yeah, and you're just as dishonest as ever." Naruto replied. "Don't be like me."

"I'm nothing like you." Sasuke shot back.

"Right. Of course not." Naruto replied rolling his eyes. "Anyway, did you tie up all of the loose ends you needed to over the past year?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded. "More or less yes. Orochimaru is still just as twisted as ever but he's not taking people against their will anymore."

"Good to hear." Naruto agreed. He then turned to the redhead beside him. "So Gaara, you up to drinking?"

Sasuke pressed his fingers to his temple as he remembered the last time Naruto drank. "Please say no. I don't need any more secrets dragged out in the open because of that stuff."

Gaara regarded him tilting his head a little. "Oh? What secrets?"

"Oh Sasuke's just mad because I spilled the beans on how he and I-" Naruto shut his mouth when he saw the Uchiha's eyes shift to blood red.

"So help me Naruto!" he hissed.

"Right. We're taking that to our graves. I remember now." The blonde stammered sweat trickling down the side of his face.

"Damn right we are!" The Uchiha agreed his eyes turning back to their natural black color.

"I'll tell you later." The Uzamaki whispered in the Kazikage's ear.

Sasuke's hand balled into a fist as his irritation grew and was startled by a soft hand on his shoulder. He turned and was surprised to see Sakura smiling at him. "Just let it go Sasuke. We all know he's going to tell Gaara anyway."

He felt some of the tension leave his body and sighed. "Yeah, you're right. That idiot is going to ruin my reputation." He replied. Over the years he'd noticed that her presence had changed over the years. Before she was a clingy fan girl who awed over his every word and desperately begged for his attention making him feel a little on edge whenever she was around. That wasn't the case anymore. Her presence was comforting, relaxing even because she treated him like a normal person unlike most of the other people around him. He did still feel a little anxious around her but it was different compared to their genin days, much more pleasant, like the excitement he felt right before going into a good sparing match.

After the food was served and eaten Gaara returned to his home in the city center, the four shinobi prepared to stay the night.

"I need to go to the hospital and check on Onchou." Sakura said as they stopped in front of the hotel where they would be staying.

"Let me go with you please!" Ryuu exclaimed.

"I don't know…" the pink haired medic replied slowly.

"I'll come along as well." Saskue said quickly.

"Alright then." Sakura agreed. "Let's head out."

They navigated the streets of the village and Sasuke once again noticed all of the eyes on him most wearing signs of mistrust and hate. "I wonder if these are the eyes." He murmured.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked from his side.

"Oh. I was just remembering how when Naruto was younger he often talked about 'the eyes'. The ones that stab you like daggers." He replied.

"Ah." Sakura said glancing around. "I think those are the eyes." She replied. "Now you understand a little of how he felt back then."

"Yeah." He replied. "It must have been much harder than I ever imagined having eyes like this on you as a child. The eyes that looked at me were different. They were full of pity. I don't know which are worse."

"I don't think one is worse than the other." Sakura replied. "Either way, they made you uncomfortable, singled you out."

He glanced at her and nodded. "You're right about that."

They arrived at the hospital and Sakura led the way to Onchou's room. "Try to be quiet." The pink haired medic instructed as they crossed the threshold.

Ryuu nodded and they entered the room quietly. The moved past the curtain and Ryuu immediately sprinted to the girl's side touching her hand. Sasuke sighed as he looked at the girl. She looked so much different from the mysterious, dangerous stranger he'd first seen. Dressed in a simple hospital gown instead of her long sleeved black attire she looked younger and much more vulnerable. A mask was over her face supplying her with oxygen, monitors and IV's were attached to her arms, legs and head. He moved closer and noticed faint scars crisscrossing her arms and the small round marks likely from injections that were rejected.

"It's kind of hard to look at." Sakura admitted.

"I've seen worse." He replied.

"That doesn't make it any easier to look at." She argued picking up the girl's chart and looking it over.

Sasuke moved closer as he noticed a mark on the girl's shoulder. Ryuu seemed to notice and pulled the sleeve of the girl's gown up slightly so he could see. It was the number 269.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare." The dark eyed Uchiha said.

"It's ok." Ryuu replied. "She seems to be doing much better. Thank you." He said to Sakura.

"Yes she is. I think she'll probably be out of it for a little longer though." Sakura replied frowning at one of the marks on the chart. "Her blood pressure is still much lower than I want it to be." She muttered walking to where the medications were located and drawing up an injection. After a moment she returned to the girl's bedside and slowly injected the clear liquid into a port on the IV tubing hear where the needle was inserted in her hand.

Sasuke smiled as he watched his pink haired teammate work. She was clearly in her element as she talked with one of the medical assistants who brought her a sheet of paper.

"What the hell is this!?" Sakura exclaimed as she read over the information. "Are you sure this is correct?" the blond nodded and Sakura growled scribbling notes into the girl's chart. "For the love of…" she muttered under her breath.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"This girl has traces of a chemical in her system that isn't supposed to exist anymore." She replied without looking at him. She touched her hand to her chin and then bit her thumb and slammed it onto the nearby desk. "Summoning Jutsu!" Sakura exclaimed and in a little puff of smoke a white slug the size of a can of soda appeared.

"Hello Sakura." Katsuyu replied. "How can I help you?"

"I need you to take a look at this girl and then relay a message to Lady Tsundae for me." Sakura replied. "Is that alright?"

"Of course." The slug replied hopping onto the pink haired medic's hand.

"What is that?" Ryuu asked staring at the creature.

"This is Lady Katsuyu." Sakura replied. "She's going to check over Onchou for me and then deliver a message."

"Oh ok." Ryuu replied.

The little slug wiggled from Sakura's hand to the young woman and moved to the center of her chest. After a few moments she spoke. "Hmm. There is something blocking me from going as deep as I would like and there is something strange circulating in her blood."

"I was afraid of that." Sakura said with a sigh. "Thank you Lady Katsuyu. Please report your findings to Lady Tsunade. Also, give her this." She said putting a hand written note inside a glass tube and handing it to the slug. "I know that she'll survive this but I can't help but worry."

"Very well Sakura. I'll return with any information Lady Tsunade has for you." And with a little pop the slug was gone.

"It's time to go back Ryuu." The pink haired medic said to the child.

"Please! Can't I stay a little longer?" he begged.

Sakura sighed. "Alright but just a little longer." She turned to Sasuke. "Come on. Let's give them some privacy."

The pair ended up on the roof of the hospital and Sakura sighed as she sat down on a bench and looked up at the stars. "You know, this is one thing I really love about the desert. The sky is so clear so the stars seem that much brighter."

Sasuke nodded and glanced up himself studying the pinpricks of light in the sky. He was startled when Sakura leaned her head against his shoulder but didn't push her away.

"Sasuke." She said softly.

"Yes." He answered.

"Did you ever go through what those two did? Painful experiments and things like that." She asked.

Sasuke sighed. "Yes, though probably not to the extent that they did."

She nodded and he felt her turn her face towards him burying her head in his shoulder. He felt moisture there and frowned. "Sakura, why are you crying?"

"I hate him." She whispered.

"Hate who?" he replied.

"I hate Orochimaru." She replied. "He goes against everything I stand for as a medical ninja and as a person. He put that damn curse mark on you, attacked the village, took you away, treats human beings like trash, and he won't freaking stay dead! Every time I think about him all I want to do is drive a kunai into his heart. That's pretty childish of me isn't it?"

"I wouldn't say that." He replied. "Hate only breeds more hate though."

"You're right. You would know that better than anyone." She replied. "And I guess I have to be a little grateful to him for helping to save Lady Tsunade." She got to her feet and walked to the edge of the roof and leaned against the iron bars as she looked out over the city. Sasuke jumped to his feet when she slammed her fist against one of bars making the metal crack and bend.

"Sakura. What's wrong?" he asked walking up to stand behind her.

"Don't look at me." She replied as blood dripped from her hand. "I am so ugly right now. Actually I'm ugly all of the time, ask Sai. I just feel especially ugly right this second."

"You're not ugly." Sasuke replied quickly.

"I am though. I'm so… angry. I'm angry at how Ryuu and Onchou have been treated. I'm angry that there's another creep like Orochimaru in the world. I'm angry that I wasn't able to do more during the war. I'm angry that I wasn't able to stop you from being used by evil people. I'm angry that so many people still suffer in this so called peaceful world." She raked her uninjured hand through her hair. "I'm still so damn useless and it pisses me the hell off!" she yelled balling her hand into a fist ready to hit the iron bars again.

Sasuke moved as fast as lightning and caught her hand. As he saw the tears of frustration and pain spilling down her cheeks, his heart ached for her. All he wanted was for those tears of hers to disappear because her pain was hurting him too.

"What did I say about looking at me?!" she snapped looking away and trying to wretch her hand out of his grip. He tightened his hold and pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her pulling her to his chest. She stiffened in his arms and then whimpered. "Why? Why are you doing this?" she murmured. "I… I don't know what to do."

"That face of yours bothers me." He replied.

"Sorry that my face bugs you. I'll get right on that." She snarled trying to pull away again.

He groaned at his clumsiness with words and women as he held her tighter. "That's not the way I meant it." He replied. She seemed to relax at his words and hesitantly lifted her own arms wrapping them around his waist.

"Sasuke. I'm really sorry that I couldn't do anything for you back then. I'm sorry that I was so annoying and clingy all of the time. I wish…" she murmured.

"I know." He replied before she could continue. "I'm sorry for everything that I put you through. He held her tighter as the memory of himself nearly killing her flashed before his eyes. If he'd followed through with that one ridiculous, insane impulse she wouldn't be here in his arms. The thought nearly brought him to his knees as his body trembled. "I am so sorry Sakura." He said his voice cracking with emotion. "I'm so sorry."

"I know that." She replied.

"I don't care!" He shot back. "I know that I'll never be able to make amends for all of the pain and suffering you experienced not just because of what I did but also because I wasn't there for you." He lowered his head to her shoulder as he fought to keep the hot tears brimming in his eyes from falling. "I swear to you that for the rest of my life I will try to make it up to you."

"Sasuke. You don't have to-" Sakura stammered.

"Shut up!" Sasuke hissed cringing at the sharpness of his tone. "Please… Let me do this for you. Let me do something for you. You're always looking out for me, I want to do the same for you."

She sighed. "Well when you put it that way, I really have no choice but to say yes." She muttered. "Since you're so set on this can I ask something of you?" she asked.

"Yes. Anything." He replied quickly.

She pulled away from him slightly and took his face in her hands gently stroking her thumbs over his cheek bones as her emerald eyes held his dark ones. His heart pounded in his chest as she leaned forward until her forehead was touching his. "Start forgiving yourself." She said softly.

His eyes widened and then he sighed. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting but it wasn't that. Of course the request she had for him would be for his sake. That was Sakura for you. Always putting herself last. She was on the way to sainthood as far as he was concerned. "I'll do my best." He replied.

"Good." She said softly smiling at him. Her gaze drifted to her hand and she sighed. "I better fix this up and then go and drag Ryuu out of Onchou's room before he gets into trouble." She touched her injured hand and within seconds the gash slashing across it was gone. "Let's go Scary Eyes." She said cheerfully grabbing the Uchiha by the hand.

"If I'm scary eyes, you're crazy fist." He muttered as he followed her content to leave his hand where it was. They arrived back in the girl's hospital room and Ryuu looked up.

"I guess it's time to go?" he said his ruby eyes downcast.

"Yeah. Sorry bud." Sakura said smiling apologetically. "We can come visit her first thing in the morning though."

"Alright." The boy said softly. He leaned over and kissed the sleeping girl on the cheek. "Goodnight Onchou. I'll see you tomorrow." He walked over to the two shinobi and glanced at their joined hands briefly. A little smirk crossed his lips as he walked past the Uchiha.

"Not your girlfriend my foot." He whispered so softly he know that only Sasuke could hear.

"Watch it brat. I know where you sleep." The dark haired young man shot back.

The boy only smiled in response and the three made their way back to the hotel with Sasuke releasing Sakura's hand just before they reached the door only because he knew the whiskered idiot would never let him hear the end of it if he caught them. He glanced at the pink haired medic and she tore into Naruto for making a mess and smiled. He wasn't sure what they were yet but he was content for the moment. Being close to her, having her warmth and Naruto's blinding light was all he needed right now.

P.S. Told you there'd be sugar in this chapter! I actually really like the way this one turned out even if it felt a little rushed. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it.


	12. Chapter 12

Sakura yawned as she sat up and stretched her arms above her head. Thankfully thanks to Gaara, they finally were in a room where everyone had their own beds. She slipped quietly out of her bed and onto the floor. She moved quietly through the room and smiled at Sai the only other person up who was sketching on a pad of paper water still visible in his ink colored locks.

"Good morning Sakura." Sai said with a smile. "I trust you slept well?"

She nodded. "I did actually, how about yourself?"

The painter chuckled. "Of course I did. I didn't have to deal with a blonde octopus all night." He replied glancing at the Uzamaki who was snoring loudly his arms wrapped around a pillow.

The pink haired medic snickered and pulled her casual clothes consisting of a pair of black pants and a short sleeved green shirt out of her bag. "I'm going to shower." She told her teammate. "If Lady Katsuyu or someone from the medical center shows up, please ask them to wait for me."

"Of course." Sai replied. "Take your time. You know how Naruto is with mornings and it appears that Sasuke isn't much better."

She chuckled. "Oh, you have no idea. I could tell you stories about their atrocious sleeping habits from our genin days."

"If they're still asleep when you get out I'll be happy to hear them." He replied.

She smiled and walked into the spacious bathroom and was surprised at how spacious it was. "Wow, being war heroes and having connections with the Kazikage has a lot of benefits." She muttered as she got to work. Knowing that water was a precious resource in the desert, she showered faster than normal and quickly existed the bathroom and sat down at the table next to Sai who was still focused on his drawing. She peaked at it and grinned as she recognized the features of her mind transfer ninja friend taking shape. "Day dreaming about Ino huh?" she asked.

Sai blushed and quickly covered up the drawing. "No… She asked me to draw a picture of her." He stammered. "I'm just fulfilling her request."

Sakura chuckled. "That sly pig." She snickered. "That's one way to make sure that your boyfriend doesn't forget you while he's the road."

"So will you tell me about Sasuke and Naruto's sleeping habits in their genin days?" Sai asked desperately trying to cover up his embarrassment.

The pink haired medic thought for a moment touching her chin before her eyes lit up. "Oh! I know! Once we were on a mission to retrieve a lost dog and-"

"Say another word and I'll trap you in a genjutsu where you and Rock Lee are the only people left on earth." Sasuke's voice cracking with irritation and tiredness hissed.

Sakura shuddered at the tone and then shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry Sai, I wasn't fast enough."

"It's ok Sakura. I'm sure there will be other opportunities to find out what happened on that mission." The painter replied.

"Sasuke, why are you up so early?" Sakura asked glancing at the clock.

"This brat woke me up." The Uchiha muttered as Ryuu peaked out from behind him.

"What's genjutsu?" the child asked.

Sasuke groaned and Sakura answered instead. "Genjutus is a form of mind control that ninjas can use. The most common forms of it is creating an illusion to trap or trick someone." She explained. "It kind of puts the other person to sleep so they're not a threat anymore."

"Oh. I think I get it." He replied. "Onchou is really good at that stuff. She can put a lot of people to sleep at once just by singing a special song."

"Can she really?" Naruto asked sitting up in bed. "That's a pretty cool trick. Is that Lulluby Justu or something?"

The silver haired child's eyes widened. "That's exactly what it's called. How did you know?" he asked.

The blonde haired Uzamaki chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "It was just a lucky guess actually." He confessed.

Ryuu shrugged and then turned his attention back to Sakura. "Can we go visit Onchou now?" he asked.

Sakura sighed. "We can go visit her but I really can't let you spend all day in her hospital room with her." She touched her hand to her chin. "Maybe Naruto can take you somewhere fun after we visit her today."

"I really don't mind." Ryuu protested. "I've always stayed by her side when she was like this before."

"Don't you trust me to take care of her?" The pink haired medic asked.

The child blushed. "I do it's just…. She's always stayed by my side when I was sick so I want to do the same for her is all."

Naruto walked up to the child and ruffled his hair. "Common kid. Onchou wouldn't want you to mope around her hospital room all day. She'd want you out and about exploring the village you came all this way to see right?"

The child sighed. "I guess so." He admitted.

"Then it's settled. We'll all go visit Onchou and then explore the village." He said with a grin.

The four leaf shinobi and their underaged charge arrived at the hospital less than an hour later and Ryuu's brow furrowed as they arrived at the room.

"What the heck is this tall guy doing here?" he muttered as he stared down Leo of the Sand.

"I simply wanted to see your friend for myself." He replied. "I also had a feeling you and the leaf ninjas would show up here first so I thought I'd wait for you here." He replied standing up.

The child snorted and Sakura walked forward picking up the girl's medical chart. She chewed on her fingernail a nervous habit she'd picked up from her master as her brow furrowed.

"Is something wrong Lady Sakura?" Leo asked.

She blinked at how he said her name and blushed. "Please, you don't have to say Lady Sakura. Just Sakura is alright." She stammered her blush vanished as she looked down at the chart. "I'm just not happy with her blood work. She has so many unknown chemicals in her system it's going to make treating her difficult."

"That's what happens to victims of human experimentation." Sai said quietly.

"Yeah. It makes me sick." She muttered. A little pop sounded in the room and a little white slug appeared on her shoulder. "Oh, hello Lady Katsuyu. How are you this morning?" she asked.

"I'm doing well thank you." The slug replied. "Lady Tsunade sent me with a reply. She agrees with you that the substance in her body is likely Black Water."

Sakura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Thanks Lady Katsuyu." She said. "It wasn't the news I was hoping for but it gives me a direction to go. Does Lady Tsunade have any samples of that stuff left so I can compare the two? I could at least determine if they came from the same source at least."

"I'm afraid not." The slug replied. "That particular sample was destroyed when Pain attacked the Leaf Village."

The pink haired medic groaned. "I was afraid of that. Very well then. Thanks for all of your help."

"Of course." The white invertebrate replied. "Feel free to call on me again if you need me." And with a pop she was gone.

"What was that all about?" Naruto asked. "What's this Black Water stuff?"

Sakura moved to the medicine cabinet and began mixing herbs together as she spoke. "About twenty years ago, a strange drug appeared on the market. It appeared to originate from right here in The Land of Wind but no one is certain. It's a black liquid and when injected into the blood stream it amplifies the strength of that person's chakra exponentially."

"Well that sounds exciting." Sasuke replied.

The pink haired medic snorted. "Oh yeah, really exciting especially when your body explodes from the inside out."

"What?" Naruto gasped.

Sakura sighed. "The human body has limitations. If you increase your chakra too quickly it will damage you on a cellular level. This drug increased chakra output so much that people's chakra networks were blown out on a cellular level leading to their bodies literally exploding." She shuddered. "It's an awful substance. There were very few that could handle it due to extenuating circumstances such as having a very flexible chakra network but most people just died after gaining incredible power for a short amount of time. It was used briefly by some ninja units known as kamikaze units who would inject themselves and go into battle with the intention of dying anyway but the Kage decided it was too dangerous and worked to eradicate it. The main source was never found and it suddenly vanished from the earth as quickly as it had come. You can't even find it on the black market anymore. The fact that this girl not only has it in her system but is still functioning is a miracle." She drew the medication she'd mixed into a syringe and then walked to the girl's IV drip and injected it into the tubing.

"This is indeed troubling." The tall shinobi agreed. "If we have any samples of that here you are welcome to it."

"Thank you Leo. I appreciate it." Sakura replied.

Ryuu suddenly stood up from his chair and grabbed for Onchou's hand as a low moan rattled in her throat.

"Don't! Please!" she whimpered. "I don't want to! Stop it! So loud!" she cried.

"Onchou!" Ryuu exclaimed. "Wake up Onchou! It's just another nightmare!"

"Don't make me do this! I'm begging you!" she cried thrashing.

"ONCHOU!" Ryuu yelled.

The girl's amethyst eyes flew open and wide with panic as she tried to pull at the IV's in her hand and the mask at her face.

"Calm down!" Sakura exclaimed. "Sasuke! Naruto! Hold her down while I get a sedative drawn up!"

The two shinobi moved and Sasuke gripped her shoulders while Naruto held her thrashing legs down. Sakura quickly grabbed the syringe and plunged it into the girls shoulder. Onchou's body began to relax and she closed her eyes and breathed slowly.

"Is she asleep?" Naruto asked as he loosened his grip but didn't move away.

"You can let go of me now." Onchou replied. "I'm not sleeping. I'm working to moderate the noise level in my head and get my bearings. Please give me a few moments."

The shinobi in the room exchanged curious glances as Sasuke and Naruto released her. After a few moments the girl opened her eyes again seeming to be much calmer.

"Onchou!" Ryuu cried out flinging his arms around her neck. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry for worrying you." She replied softly stroking a hand through his silver hair.

"Are you going to be ok now?" he asked.

The violet haired girl nodded. "I think so. I'm just feeling a bit tired is all."

"Would you mind answering a few questions for me?" Leo asked moving forward.

"Who are you?" she replied.

"I'm Leo of the Sand, an assistant to the Kazikage." He replied.

Onchou's brow furrowed. "Wait a second. Does that mean that we've made it to The Village Hidden in the Sand?" she asked.

Ryuu nodded. "Yeah, Naruto carried you here on his back. I rode on Sasuke's back." He explained.

The girl nodded and then touched a hand to her temple squinting her eyes shut as she winced. "Well that explains a lot. No wonder it's so loud." She turned her attention back to the sand ninja. "I'm sorry. I'd like to answer your questions but I'm afraid I'm going to fall asleep before I get the chance to." She replied as her lids began to droop. "Thanks for looking after Ryuu for me." She said softly as her speech slurred. "Ryuu." She whispered. "I sense something foul in on the wind but I also can hear that song again. The one that brought me back to life. It's so close." She rasped before she fell back against the pillows asleep again.

"Well that was exciting." Naruto muttered. "That sedative you gave her worked fast."

Sakura sighed. "I know, I didn't want to give her that much but if she'd torn out that IV of hers I would've had a mess on my hands in more ways than one." She turned to Ryuu. "What did she mean by sensing something foul on the wind?"

Ryuu's face hardened. "She says that when a person with what she calls discord is nearby or headed to the place where we are. Discord I think is what she hears in an evil person's soul song."

"What is a soul song?" Leo asked.

The ruby eyed child smacked his hand over his face. "It's not my thing it's Ochou's." He muttered. "I already told raccoon eyes. If he wants answers he'll have to wait until she gets better. I am just a kid you know!"

The tall sand ninja blinked and took a step back. "Did he really just refer to Lord Gaara as raccoon eyes?" he asked in disbelief.

"He is just a kid." Sauske reminded him.

"Yeah and Naruto calls him no brows." Sakura reminded him.

Leo cringed. "It just doesn't feel right." He muttered.

Naruto laughed. "You're taking this way too seriously. Anyway, Onchou is probably going to be out of it for a while right?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I gave her a pretty strong sedative. I'm pretty sure that she'll be out of it until tomorrow at least. In the meantime, there's a place I'd like to visit if that's alright with the rest of you."

"Would you like some company?" Leo and Sasuke replied in unison.

Sakura blinked in surprise noting the icy glares the two were shooting each other.

"Umm…" she muttered embarrassed. She didn't want to be rude to Leo but she really wanted Sasuke to come with her. Her destination was Lady Chiyo's grave after all. The old woman and she had shared a special bond and she wanted to show the man she loved the headstone of one of the people that had made her the woman she was today. "Actually, it would be much more helpful to me if you could find out if you have any samples of Black Water, Leo." She replied.

"Right. Of course." He replied with a smile. "I'll get right on that. Please excuse me."

As he left the room she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Anyway, I'd like it if you came with me Sasuke." She said blushing a little.

He nodded and Naruto snickered behind her back. She glared at the blonde and he cringed instinctively raising his hands to protect his face.

"You know what? I think I saw a park on the way here that looked pretty awesome." He stammered grabbing Ryuu by the hand. "Let's go Ryuu. You too Sai!" he called hooking his arm around the painter's neck and dragging him out of the room.

Sasuke sighed as the door closed behind them. His friend was not known for being subtle in any way, shape, or form. It was so blatantly obvious he was trying to get them alone together it was embarrassing. None the less, he was actually quite pleased to be alone with her.

Sakura nudged his shoulder and smirked. "Could Naruto make it any more obvious that he was trying to get us alone?" she asked.

He smirked as he realized she was thinking the exact same thing that he was. "I know." He replied. "Shall we get going then? If we linger too long that Leo guy is going to show up again."

"Right." She replied her eyes wide. "Let's get out of here. I actually have two stops to make if that's alright."

"Of course." He said following her. "You know this place much better than I do. Just think of me as your escort." Sakura smiled at him and lead the way out of the hospital and down onto the streets. "Where to first?" he asked.

She tapped her chin and then grabbed his hand pulling him towards a part of the village he wasn't familiar with. "This way." She replied. "If I remember right, there's a flower shop a couple of blocks from here."

Sasuke nodded and didn't pull his hand away as he caught up and matched his pace with hers. Walking hand in hand with her was starting to feel natural to him and while part of him was lecturing him about how he didn't deserve it and that he was potentially sending the pink haired medic mixed signals, the larger part of him just didn't care. They arrived at the little shop and he watched as Sakura studied the limited selection of flowers settling on a small bouquet of white daisies. He then followed her to the edge of town where a large monument dedicated to ninja who died in action stood against the sheer cliff walls that surrounded the village. Sakura moved among the headstones erected near there and settled near one of the newer ones. A little smile touched her lips as she noted a single white rose sitting on top of it.

"Lady Chiyo." She said softly kneeling down and laying her bundle of daisies next to the fairer flower touching it gently. "Lord Gaara left this here for you didn't he?"

"This is Lady Chiyo's grave?" Sasuke replied moving closer to her examining the stone.

"Yes." She replied with a smile. "She was such an amazing woman. I wish you could've met her." The pink haired medic reached out and touched the headstone. "She was Sasori's grandmother, the one who taught him puppetry. A medical ninja who developed the life transference jutsu and used it to save Gaara at the cost of her own life." A tear slid from her eye as she talked. "She saved my life too and never gave up. Even after she lost her arm in the fight."

Sasuke felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards the woman buried beneath him and he knelt down beside his pink haired companion and closed his eyes offering a little prayer of gratitude to the elder woman for protecting his greatest source of warmth during his absence.

"Sakura, it's been a long time." A low voice said from behind the leaf shinobi. Sasuke and Sakura both rose and the Uchiha took in the form of a short elderly man with bandages wrapped around the top of his head.

"Lord Ebizo." Sakura said bowing to the man. "I'm glad to see you're still in good health."

The older man chuckled. "I wouldn't say that, but I am still alive." He said with a smile. "I've heard of your great achievements during the Fourth Great Ninja War. I and proud to know you, one of the New Legendary Sannin." The pink haired young woman smiled and moved forward to embrace the older man. "I'm sure that my sister is very proud of you. It means a lot to me and her that you've stopped by to visit."

Sakura smiled. "Thank you. I'm actually here on official business but I'm happy I was able to come none the less." She glanced back at the grave stone. "That white rose."

Ebizo smiled. "That Kazikage himself makes sure that there is always a healthy white rose there. He doesn't need to, Chiyo gave him her life willingly but he does it anyway. What a fine man that Gaara has become." He turned towards the dark haired Uchiha. "Who is this young man?" he asked. "I don't recall him being with you the last time you came here."

"This is Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura explained.

"I see." Ebizo replied. "The new Snake Sannin. I guess that means that you were successful in bringing him back to your village."

Sakura chuckled. "Well I didn't really have anything to do with that. It was all Naruto."

Sasuke glanced at the pinked haired medical ninja and felt a stab of pain at her words. What was she saying? Without her, he'd be dead for sure.

"I see. Well that kid does have a knack for pulling off the impossible." The old man said with a smile.

"Yeah." She replied with a sad smile.

The old man noticed the change in her expression and reached out patting her on the shoulder. "I see that look in your eye and I don't like it dearie." He said. "You've accomplished great things too. You've saved countless lives with both your fists and your medical skills. Most of the ninja in this world would likely be dead if it weren't for you. Chin up dearie." He said with a gentle smile. "Your presence is very important in this world we live in. Remember that without you Chiyo, Kankuro, and even Lord Gaara would've been lost."

"Thanks." Sakura said with a smile. "I really appreciate it."

Sasuke walked beside her as they left the cemetery his mind troubled. It was clear to him that she still felt inferior to him and Naruto and it irritated him. How could she still doubt her skill and strength? She'd saved both himself and Naruto from the brink of death. Her medical healing prowess had saved thousands on the battle field. Without her perfectly timed punch they never would've been able to save the world. His irritation continued to claw at him as they ate lunch together and then met with Naruto who had arranged for Ryuu, himself and Sai to spend some time at a children's show. He and Sakura decided to explore the village further instead and they ended up a little ways up one of the sheer cliffs overlooking the village watching the sun set. Alone with her and his irritation on the verge of turning to anger, he finally spoke.

"Sakura." He said glancing over at her.

"Yes." She replied quickly.

"Why do you still feel that way?" he asked.

"Feel what way?" she asked.

"Feel weak and inferior." He replied.

She blinked at his question and then sighed leaning forward resting her head in her hands. "Because it's the truth." She replied simply.

The Uchiha stared at her his eyes nearly turning red in his irritation. "You've got to be kidding me." He replied his voice hard. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not joking." She replied. "It's the absolute truth. Ever since I was a genin I've felt the same way, that I'm never going to catch up to you two." She sighed and dropped her hands stretching her back before leaning back resting on her forearms. "Don't get me wrong, I have moments where I feel like I'm almost there." She replied. "Like when I first achieved my strength of one hundred seal, when I helped defeat Kaguya and helped Obito pull you out of that desert dimension but…" she sighed and got to her feet. "In the end all I can do is put the pieces back together and even that's not always enough." She turned away from him. "From the day those sound ninjas attacked us in the forest of sound, I've wanted one thing more than anything else."

"What's that?" Sasuke asked his hand balled into a fist as he fought the temptation to break something in his frustration at how little she thought of herself.

"The strength to protect the ones I care about. The power to protect you and Naruto." She replied simply. A bitter sounding giggle bubbled out of her throat. "The fact that I'll never be strong enough to achieve that dream really hurts."

"What makes you think you haven't done that already?" He asked. "Don't you realize that Naruto and I would both be dead if it weren't for you?!" he demanded getting to his feet his anger flaring. It was so damned annoying how much she put herself down.

She whirled around tears of anger brimming in her eyes. "That's not the point here!" she shouted. "I hate myself for not being able to prevent that kind of situation in the first place!" she yelled. "Do you have any idea how much it sucks to be stuck watching from the sidelines as the people who matter most to you throw themselves into the face of danger over and over again?! To always be the one waiting, praying that everyone comes back in one piece! Desperate to jump in and do something but always having people push you away telling you that it's too dangerous and that you can't handle it!" she raked her fingers through her hair. "I HATE it!" she screamed. She turned away from him again breathing hard.

Sasuke stood beside her at a loss. He didn't know at all how that felt. His pride as man and a warrior had always pushed him to believe that most women were soft creatures who needed to be protected. That's probably why he'd found them so annoying most of the time. Sakura was different, she didn't want to be protected. She wanted to be the one protecting. She wanted to protect him and Naruto more than anything else in the world, to save them from their pain and suffering. Her tears and screams were proof of the intensity of that feeling.

"Sakura I.." he started.

"Don't say it!" she hissed wiping her eyes. "I don't want your pity. That only makes me feel worse." She said getting to her feet. "We should head back to the others. It's nearly dinner time and I need to check on Onchou one more time tonight."

The dark eyed Uchiha took a deep breath and then reached out wrapping his arms around the pink haired medic. "This isn't pity." He replied. "I think I know a little of how you feel. After my family was killed I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness and frustration at my own weakness. Not being able to protect those who matter to you is one of the worst feelings in the world." He held her tighter. "I'm really sorry that I've contributed to the way you're feeling right now." He sighed. "This is really selfish of me to say but I'm going to say it anyway, Naruto and I feel the same way you do."

"What are you talking about?" she replied her tone dark. "You two are basically the reincarnations of Gods and are probably the most powerful shinobi in the world."

"Naruto and I both want to the power to protect the ones we care about. We push you out of harm's way not because you're weak but because we care about you just as much as you care about us." He said softly.

She stiffened in his arms and then groaned. "Damn it Sasuke! Why did you have to go and say a thing like that? Now I feel like an idiot and I'm all wound up with nothing to take my anger out on." He smirked and relaxed as he felt his own anger start to dissipate. Warmth began to spread through his body instead as Sakura raised her arms and wrapped them around him her fingers pressing into his back. "Thank you Sasuke." She said softly. "Really, you have no idea how long I've had those feelings bottled up for. I feel a bit better knowing how you feel. That doesn't mean I'm ok with being sidelined all of the time but it'll definitely make it easier."

The next couple days they spent in the sand village proved to be rather uneventful. Onchou continued to recover but still remained unconscious which meant all the leaf shinobi could do was wait. Sasuke found himself spending more and more time with the pink haired medic watching as she trained some of the Sand Village's medics and played with Ryuu helping him feel more at ease with new people.

Onchou's eyes flew open as a haunting, dead sounding melody entered her ears. "Dolls." She murmured. Glancing around her room she quickly ascertained that it was night time, just a few minutes after midnight. She closed her eyes focusing on the foul song and gritted her teeth as she recognized it as a melody of death.

"Damn it!" she hissed. "I can't let them kill that song. The one that gave me hope again." She rolled out of bed and reached for her bag sitting on a stand at the end of the bed. With skill learned from releasing Ryuu from his glass prison as often as possible, she disconnected her IV and silenced the monitors attached to her. She pulled on her normal clothes no longer concerned with hiding her identity. After all, if Dolls were here, at least three of Takuma's agents were as well and they all knew exactly who she was from her chakra signature alone. She pulled on a wine colored top that covered three quarters of her arm and then slipped a black leather sleeveless coat over it zipping it up to just below her bust line. It was long enough to cover from her hips to her neck in front and then flared out in back tapering to a point just below her knees. She then slid on a pair of black leggings and paired them with black ninja sandals before snapping a silver belt with its many pouches into place on her hips. She wrapped bandages around her left thigh and secured her primary weapons pouch to it quickly fingering the cool metal inside to calculate how many weapons she had easy access to. Black fingerless gloves with silver plates sewn into the top were placed on her hands and she slipped silver ribbon into her hair pulling the violet tresses up and out of her face into a high pony tail. Finally she picked up her sword and strapped it to her back before opening the window and leaping from the third story landing lithely on the roof top of the shorter building beside it. She closed her eyes and focused on the death melodies pinpointing their location. Her eyes opened and zeroed in on the largest building in the Village nodded as she confirmed lights on in the space where she sensed the foul creatures. She leapt into the air and quickly moved from rooftop to rooftop as she whispered words into the air and then formed a hand sign. Confident her message had been sent and would be received she focused on a balcony on the tall building noting the single guard stationed there. "This is going to be a little easier than I thought." She muttered before swinging forward and landing on the ledge of the terrace and slipping through the metal door past the guard.

Ryuu sat bold upright in bed breathing hard. His eyes widened and he jumped out of bed scrambling for his clothes. "Get up!" he cried out pulling his night shirt over his head and replacing it with his black tunic and white pants. "Everyone get up!"

"What's going on Ryuu?" Sasuke demanded as he sat up. "It's past midnight you know."

"It's Onchou!" The child replied. "She's up and headed to the building in the center of the village." He said pulling on his shoes.

"Why on earth would she be headed there? She needs to stay in bed." Sakura replied getting up herself.

"There are Dolls in there." Ryuu replied digging through his bag until he found white bandages and began wrapping them around his leg.

"Are you serious?" Naruto replied rolling out of bed.

The child nodded securing a weapons pouch to his left thigh. "That's not the worse part. They're here to kill someone she doesn't think we'll get there in time to stop it so she went ahead on her own."

"How do you know all this?" Sasuke replied as he started pulling on his own clothes.

"She sent me a message on the wind." He replied. "It's a special jutsu we use to stay connected and send messages in dangerous situations. Hurry!" he yelled. "She can take on the Dolls just fine but the one controlling them is going to be very dangerous and in her current condition I don't think she'll be ok."

Onchou sprinted down the hallway of the rounded rust colored building ignoring the strange looks the few remaining people remaining so late shot her. "Damn!" she hissed as she heard the song of death getting stronger. "I need to make it!" she focused her ears and was able to pinpoint the door she needed and ran faster.

"Miss! Who are you?" a security guard demanded as she leapt over the checkpoint. "You can't go past this point without security clearance!" he yelled. "I'll be forced to use deadly force if you don't stop!"

She ignored him and caught the kunai he threw at her with ease as she skidded to a halt in front of the door she needed. Without a second thought she threw it open and found herself staring at one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen. He had dark red hair, pale blue eyes with black rings around them. His skin was pale and on his forehead was a red tattoo of the symbol for love. He looked startled his hand frozen in mid stroke over a scroll of paper. Her heart pounded in her chest as his soul song entered her and she recognized it as the one that had saved her just over a year and a half ago. She blinked once and then glanced over to the side as she caught the sound of slow barely perceptible breathing. "Please pardon my intrusion." She said as she closed the door behind her. The red haired man's expression shifted from one of surprise to one of defense as his eyes narrowed but she ignored it and instead slammed her fist into the figure standing next to her breaking the amulet casting camouflage jutsu on the man and knocking the wind out of him. She then aimed a kick at the second intruder breaking an identical amulet and bringing the woman to her knees. The man attacked her his dark eyes dull and lifeless as he raised a kunai slashing it towards her face. She dodged the attack and grabbed his arm and flipped backwards planting a foot in his back as she did so. A sickening crack rang through the office but the man didn't even whimper in response as the knife slid from his fingers. His female partner attacked and Onchou dodged her windmill kick and landed a blow of her own as she slammed her elbow down against the back of the woman's head who hit the office floor with a thud. The woman's male partner struggled to his feet and she sighed. "You should've just stayed down." She hissed drawing a kunai from her pouch and plunging the knife into the back of his neck severing his spinal column. He fell to the ground with a thud and the woman turned her attention to the red haired man pulling a short sword from her back. "Seriously!" Onchou hissed leaping forward and wrapping her legs around the woman's waist as her hands gripped her head and twisted snapping the Doll's neck. She scanned the room once more and pulled a kunai from her pouch and threw it towards the red haired man who flinched as the blade sank into the forehead of a third Doll standing behind him with a syringe in his hand inches from his neck. The man fell to the ground and the violet haired girl leaned forward bracing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

"I made it in time." She murmured panting before she looked up at the blue eyed man.

"Who are you?" he asked his voice low and smooth, each word deliberate and unhurried.

She opened her mouth to speak and then cursed instead as she flipped forward landing behind the red haired man and used a push of wind chakra to throw his desk out of the way as she shoved him to the floor covering his body as best she could with her own as an explosion went off blowing out the round windows and destroying part of the wall. Glass rained down on them and she winced as she felt a couple of larger shards enter her back and head.

"My name is Onchou and I'm sorry about that." She said softly as she looked at the stunned man beneath her. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Are you?" he asked noting the blood that dripped from her head onto his white robe.

She nodded. "This is nothing." She replied before her gaze turned dark and she shifted towards the person she knew was responsible for the attack. "Stay here." She instructed as she stood up and glared at the figure standing just outside the remains of the broken wall perched on a thin column of rock. The man had a thick build, dark skin, and blonde hair. His green eyes glinted with blood lust as he grinned back at her.

"It's been a long time Princess." He said in a mocking tone. "I wasn't expecting to run into you here let alone that you'd interfere with my mission. All well, there are more where those three came from. I wasn't expecting the Kazikage to go down easily anyway."

The girl blinked and glanced back at the red haired man. "That explains a lot." She muttered as the burly man leapt into the air landing on the roof.

"Oh no you don't!" she hissed leaping after him flipping to land on the roof of the Kazikage's building. "How many of those disgusting creatures did you bring with you?" she demanded as she faced him down.

He snickered. "Like I'd tell you that." He moved closer. "You've become quite a looker since you've been gone. I wonder if that's because you've gone soft. I'd love to see. We never really got a chance to fight seriously since Takuma didn't want any harm to come to you but I'm itching to see what you've got. He won't care if I rough you up a little before dragging you home as long as you're alive."

She sighed. "Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll just find out for myself." She said cupping her hand in front of her chest while the other one formed a hand sign as her eyes drifted closed in concentration. The song to seek and mark flowed from her lips and concentrated into a ball of glowing orange light in her palm. She then pushed into the air where it floated until it was high above the city. She slashed her arm through the air and the ball of light exploded beams of light scattering across the village like lasers as every Doll was marked with a bright orange mark in the shape of a music note on their forehead that glowed faintly in the dark.

"Damn! I forgot you could do that." Earth Eater hissed.

"Onchou! What's going on?!" Naruto demanded as he, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Ryuu and the Kazikage arrived on the rooftop followed by the night gaurds. "Gaara said told us that you just saved him." He skidded to halt and looked at the hulk of a man standing in front of the violet haired girl and the two men with glowing orange marks on their forehead next to him.

"Earth Eater." Ryuu said softly. "That man is one of Takuma's strongest. He uses Earth Style jutsu and is very dangerous. I've never seen him lose a fight against anyone except Takuma."

"What about Onchou?" Saskue asked.

"Takuma never let them fight." He replied.

"Ah I see you've got the dragon boy with you. Man, all I have to do is kill the red head and bring you two brats back and I'll be sitting pretty." The dark skinned man said grinning wickedly.

"If you try to touch either of them I'll tear you apart." Onchou replied her tone deadly as she glared at the man.

Naruto smirked. "I couldn't have said it better myself." He said walking up to stand beside her cracking his knuckles.

The man smirked. "Oh really? We'll see about that." He said raising his hands.

Onchou frowned. "Listen up!" she called out. "Every person with that glowing mark on their forehead is a Doll." She said watching the two Dolls beside Earth Eater shift slightly in anticipation of their master's order to attack. "You have to kill them or they'll just keep coming after you. Even if you knock them out for a week when they wake up they'll only try to kill you again." She turned to the bulky man in front of her. "If you want to fight me so badly, let's take this outside the village."

"Why would I want to do that?" the man replied raising an eyebrow.

"Because there isn't enough room for me to fight you seriously inside this stupid canyon." She replied.

Ryuu tugged on Sasuke's sleeve. "That's not true." He replied softly so that the ninja near him could hear but Earth Eater couldn't. "She just doesn't want anyone else in the village to get hurt. He'll wreck the entire village without a second thought in the middle of a battle without even noticing. He doesn't know how or just doesn't care to hold back."

"I see." Sasuke said. "Ryuu, I want you to stay with Lord Gaara." He said looking down at the boy.

"Why do I have to stay with Raccoon eyes?" he demanded.

"You two are the ones he's after. If he fights the way you say he does and we split you up he'll just destroy the entire place trying to find you both. Onchou wants to draw him outside the village to keep that from happening so we'll use you two as bait and lead him there." He explained. "Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and I will cover you and deal with the Dolls."

The child crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You really think this guy can protect me from that muscle head?" he demanded looking at the pale faced man who was now wearing rust colored clothes with a brown belt holding a gourd around his hip.

Naruto chuckled. "He didn't earn the title of Kazikage by being soft kiddo. He's got more than what it takes to keep a shrimp like you safe."

"I'm still here damn it!" Earth Eater hissed. "Keep your eyes on me!" he demanded flicking his wrist forward. In an instant men and woman with dead eyes flew at the ninja who reacted immediately. Gaara reached out and pulled Ryuu to his side as he used the sand from the gourd on his hip to deflect a shower of kunai.

"Lord Gaara! What's going on?" a guard demanded bursting onto the roof.

"We are under attack." The Kazikage replied. "Sound the alarm and instruct all of the citizens to stay inside. Everyone else is to attack and kill anyone bearing a glowing symbol of a note of their forehead."

"As you wish." The soldier replied before vanishing.

"Do you have any idea how many of these things there are?" Sakura asked the amethyst eyed girl as she slammed her fist into the face of one of the Dolls knocking it off the roof.

"Give me a second!" The girl replied grabbing one by the arm and slamming it to the ground as she drove a kunai into its back. She leapt into the air and closed her eyes as her ears glowed silver for a moment before she opened her eyes again and drove her foot into the head of another Doll as she landed. "He brought one hundred of them." She replied. "That's a little overkill don't you think?!" she growled as she launched at the muscled ninja who barely had time to avoid her attack by creating a mud wall in front of himself.

"You know me, I like to do things in a big way." Earth Eater replied. "That's not your style though is it Princess?"

She hissed in irritation and slammed her foot into the makeshift barrier breaking it into pieces. "You're right. It's not." She replied.

He snickered and leap from the roof his hands forming signs and her eyes widened. "You're pulling that crap already?!" she exclaimed. "If his fist touches the ground we're in trouble!"

"Leave it to me." Gaara said as sand flew through the air and slammed into the bulky man knocking him off course.

"We really need to get him out of the village. He'll reduce the buildings to rubble!" Onchou said as she blocked another Doll's attack. "But these damn Dolls are such a pain!"

"I know!" Naruto exclaimed as he blocked another attack. "I can't use any of my more effective attacks without wrecking the place."

Sasuke glared at a Doll as it advanced his eyes blazing blood red and plunged his katana into its heart. "Genjutsu doesn't seem to have appear to have any effect on them."

"I told you before. They're basically soulless. The only thoughts they have are to fulfill their master's commands which at the moment is to kill us." Onchou replied.

"I guess that just means we'll have to lead them out of town." Sakura said punching another Doll in the chest. "They'll have to follow their targets right?"

The ninja gathered on the roof nodded. "Lead out Gaara." Naruto instructed. "You know this place best. We'll follow you."

The red haired ninja nodded and pulled Ryuu onto his back and lead the way across the roof tops as he, Onchou and the Leaf ninja deflected attacks from the Dolls that followed them.

"Persistent buggers." Naruto hissed as he used a rasingan on one that tried to latch onto his back.

"They're almost as bad as you." Sasuke replied using his chidori to take out one that attacked him. "They just don't know when to quit."

Sai's lions attacked a small knot of them knocking them to the street below and nodded. "Defeating them will certainly be much easier once we get outside of these confined quarters."

"We're nearly there." Gaara said. "We'll have to run the rest of the way down the canyon path."

"We're dead if Earth Eater breaks those walls." Ryuu said looking at the narrow opening.

"Have a little more faith in your friends." Gaara replied softly as the shinobi sprinted down the narrowing opening that connected The Village Hidden in the Sand to the rest of the desert.

"I'll get you now!" Earth Eater exclaimed as he neared the passage way himself his hand balling into a fist as he focused on the wall of the passageway.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Onchou exclaimed. "If you kill me and Ryuu, Takuma will have your head!" she called back.

The man stopped in mid-swing processing her words and the girl immediately began to form hand signs. "Brace yourselves!" she called out. "Wind Style! Hurricane Gale Justsu!" she exclaimed. An enormous blast of wind swept into the narrow passage the space naturally increasing its already incredible power and launched the seven member party out the passage, tumbling onto the desert floor.

Sakura coughed at the gritty taste of sand in her mouth as she got to her knees.

"Sorry about that." Onchou sputtered. "I didn't want him to burry us alive."

"Don't apologize. That was good quick thinking." Sasuke replied shaking the sand from his hair.

"It just sucks that we had to eat sand." Naruto replied coughing and then spitting the gritty substance out.

"We've got company." Sai said as the Dolls began to funnel out of the narrow chamber.

"At least out here we can fight them easily without anyone else getting hurt." Sakura said puling on her leather gloves.

The Dolls came to a stop feet away from the shinobi and Sasuke shifted nervously. "Why aren't they attacking." He muttered.

"Scatter!" Onchou cried out. The seasoned shinobi reacted on instinct and leapt away from where they were standing just as a series of explosions went off beneath their feet. "I knew it!" Onchou hissed. "The explosion and the camouflage talismans, those aren't Earth Eater's style at all. Show yourself Chimera and Ember!"

"So it is you Princess. I almost didn't recognize you there. You really have become quiet pretty." A masculine voice replied. The air shimmered and man with blue hair appeared before them.

"I know right?" Earth Eater replied leaping over the Dolls to stand beside his fair skinned partner.

"I'm not convinced yet. I think she still has a few years before she reaches her peak." A third voice replied. A short, portly man with spiky orange and red hair materialized next to Chimera. "How did you know we were here?" he asked.

"Yeah! I want to know that too." Naruto replied.

"I told you that I can hear things others can't." the violet haired teen replied. "Not only that but I know that Takuma prefers to send out teams of three agents regardless of the amount of Dolls on missions. This group works together often. They were known in the laboratory as TAS, The Assassination Squad. They always operate in the same way, Chimera or Dolls using talismans charged with his chakra would infiltrate using his camouflage jutsu to kill the target quietly. Then they would rely on Ember's explosives and fire jutsu to cover up any evidence. Earth Eater was the cleanup crew taking out any witnesses."

"What an effective system." Sasuke said quietly.

Sakura nodded. "I wonder how many people have died by their hands without any of us knowing. Takuma could have a bigger hand in this world than we thought." She mused.

"So it's true. You've betrayed Takuma." Ember said his brow furrowing as he glared at the dark skinned girl.

She snorted. "I was never like you three bloodthirsty maniacs. I didn't come to that mad scientist willingly. Of course I ran when I had the chance."

Chimera laughed. "Is that so? You could've fooled me. I've seen your handiwork with my own eyes, you can make the three of us seem tame."

The girl clenched her fists. "Shut up!" she snarled. "Every word out of your mouth pisses me off!"

"Oh darling don't be like that." The blue haired man crooned. "Let's go home together. Takuma will welcome you and Ryuu back with open arms you know."

"Like I'd ever let Ryuu go back to that Hell on earth!" she shot back.

Chimera sighed. "Very well. If you won't go back willingly, we'll take you by force and kill the rest of your little party at the same time."

The teenaged girl's eyes widened even as Naruto put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't know who you're dealing with here." He replied. "Onchou and Ryuu are our friends, we're not going to let you take them back to that horrible place. Gaara is one of my best friends and the leader of this Village, there's no way in Hell we'll let you kill him."

"Fine. It's your funeral!" Ember called out shooting a fireball at them. Sasuke leapt forward and manipulated the fire with his own chakra until it rested in his own palm.

"You're going to have to do better than that." The Uchiha replied extinguishing the flame with the curling of his own fingers.

"What's going on here?" Kankuro demanded as he ran up to the group with Tamari by his side.

"These men and those creatures are the ones responsible for the attack on the village." Gaara replied.

"Tell us what you can about these guys so we can figure out how to take them." Sasuke said to Onchou.

"Right." The teenager replied. "Earth Eater uses earth style and specializes in earthquake and large scale attacks. He's not very precise but makes up with it by the sheer power and force of his attacks. Chimera's specialty is camouflage jutsu and he attacks with deadly accuracy using throwing needles. Ember uses explosives and fire style jutsu, and I know he doesn't look it, but he's extremely fast." She glanced behind them at the Dolls who were still standing motionless awaiting their master's orders. "Between those three and the Dolls, I don't like the looks of this." She admitted.

"Let my people handle the Dolls." Gaara said turning to his brother. "Those creatures must be killed at any cost."

"Of course." The painted face shinobi replied.

"Please take this child some place safe." The Kazikage instructed his sister motioning to Ryuu.

"Sure. I can do that." Tamari said extending a hand towards the boy.

"No!" the child exclaimed running to Onchou and wrapping his arms around her. "I don't want to leave you! What if you don't come back? What will happen to me?" he demanded.

Onchou knelt down in front of the boy, took his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his. "I swear to you that I will not die here. I will come back to you because I promised that I would protect you forever, don't you remember?"

The child nodded. "I remember."

"Good. Now please go with that woman." She said releasing him and giving him a gentle push towards the blonde.

She lifted the child onto her shoulders and began to run back towards the village when Earth Eater slammed his foot into the ground kicking up a large sandstone boulder. "Did I say you could leave?" he demanded as he threw the massive piece of stone at the retreating pair.

Gaara and Onchou both moved at once the first blocking the rock with a wall of sand while the later materialized in front of the hulk of a man and slammed her fist into his face knocking him back several feet her eyes blazing.

"What did I tell you!?" she roared as her hand crackled with lightning based chakra.

"Damn! Her punch is almost as scary as yours." Naruto muttered to Sakura.

The pink haired medic nodded. "Yeah it is. I don't blame her though. Ryuu is like family to her."

"We need to break into teams to take them on." Sasuke said activating his sharringan as Onchou leapt back to join the rest of the group. "Since I'm impervious to fire attacks and Sakura has water based chakra, we'll take on Ember. Naruto, you and Sai take out that Earth Eater guy, he has quite a bit of chakra but he's no match for you two especially with Kurema's power. Chimera's chakra is a little strange even to my eyes so I think it would be best if Onchou fights him along with Gaara. He does have The Sand Village's Ultimate Defense at his disposal if things get too dangerous and Onchou seems to know how he fights. Once you beat your opponent, go help the other teams. Got it!"

The ninja nodded and broke off into their allotted teams and stared down their opponents.

"You're stupid if you think a couple of snot nosed kids like you can defeat me." Earth Eater said cracking his knuckles as he stared down Naruto and Sai.

The Uzamaki smirked. "I don't think so." He said balling his hands into a fist. "You'll find out soon enough that you're stupid for underestimating us." He replied his eyes turning red as he tapped into Kurama's power. "You're going to wish you'd never attempted to lay a hand on my friends."

Sai shifted pulling out a scroll of paper and quickly drew up an eagle and leapt up to hover above the hulk of a man.

"That's a neat trick. This might be more fun than I thought." The blonde haired man said with a wicked grin.

Sasuke and Sakura both shifted into defensive positions as they stared down the portly Ember who looked at them through dark goggles. "You two brats don't have a prayer against me." He replied as his hands burst into flames.

Sasuke snickered. "We could say the same about you." He replied as he activated his sharringan in one eye and rinnigan in the other.

Sakura nodded beside him balling her hands into fists. "Don't underestimate us." she added her voice hard.

Oncho's brow furrowed as she studied her opponent carefully. Gaara moved to stand beside her sand swirling around him as it leaked from the gourd in his hip.

"This is a new experience. I don't think I've ever seen you fight with a partner since Akira left this world." Chimera said his lips turning up into a smirk. "Such a shame too, I was hoping I'd be able to have that spot after that mutt died."

The girl tensed. "You have no right to speak his name and don't you dare defile his memory in front of me." she snarled.

Gaara's brow furrowed at the exchange before he spoke. "What do you suggest?" he asked.

Onchou glanced at him. "Like he said, I haven't fought with a partner in a while." She grimace and frowned. "Not only that but I'm not at full strength either." She looked forward at their opponent. "Chimera is difficult to fight not only because of his camouflage jutsu but because of how accurate he is with his throwing needles. They're hard enough to see in the daylight and now with only moonlight it's going to be even harder to avoid them." She gritted her teeth. "I really don't like this."

Earth Eater attacked first slamming his fist into the ground and creating a series of jagged stone columns around himself and Naruto.

The Uzamaki leapt out of the way of a shard of rock and then dodged a boulder hefted at him by the large man. "Shoot! For a big guy, he can definitely move fast!" he muttered as Sai sent a barrage of ink lions at the man who made quick work of the creatures. Distracting him so that Naruto could put some distance between them as he formed a rasingan in his palm.

"Let's heat things up!" Ember exclaimed as his body burst into flame. He aimed his hands at the pink haired medic and flames shot from his arms intent on burning her alive. Sakura flipped out of the flames path as Sasuke drew his katana and rushed at the man. A paper bomb flew from Ember's hand and the Uchiha dodged it with ease slashing the man across the chest.

"That kind of cheap trick won't work on me." He said. "I can see everything." He remarked his demonic looking eyes flashing.

"An Uchiha! I thought you were all dead?" Ember remarked as he seared the gash across his body closed.

Sasuke merely smirked in response as Sakura sprinted forward and slammed her fist into the portly man's face knocking him back several feet.

Chimera studied his opponents for a few moments a smile playing on his lips. "Where to begin." He said with a smirk, the wind shifted and he vanished into thin air.

Gaara's eyes widened and Onchou shifted into a defensive position. His eyes widened further when his violet haired partner closed her eyes. He opened his mouth to speak when she held up a hand to silence him.

"I need to concentrate." She murmured as the black swirling tattoos he'd just noticed on her ears began to shimmer and glow with a silver light. Her eyes flew open and she slashed her arm through the air knocking a series of throwing needles off course and sending Chimera flying backwards breaking his camouflage jutsu as he slammed into the sand.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" she called out.

Her eyes widened and she turned. "Behind you!" she exclaimed as a second Chimera began to rise out of the sand. Gaara whipped his hands through the air and destroyed the clone with a sand blast.

"Darn it. I was hoping to get rid of that eyesore quickly so that you'd fight me seriously." Chimera whined as he began forming hand signs. "I don't like this landscape, it's no fun for me, so let's change things up a bit." He said unrolling a scroll and biting his thumb. "Summoning Jutus!" he exclaimed. The ground began to shake and Onchou flipped backwards grabbing Gaara's arm tightly as the landscape around them began to change. Strange trees and plants sprung up from the ground forcing the two even closer together.

"If we get separated in here we're screwed." She muttered her eyes narrowing. "He pulled these plants from a different dimension so they shouldn't last long, especially not in the desert but until they crumble away we're stuck fighting on his turf." She chuckled darkly. "He used up a lot of chakra for this, he must really be itching to fight me."

"Why of course. I've always wanted to see how well I could do against Takuma's precious Princess of Death." Came Chimera's voice.

Gaara glanced at her seemingly confused by her nickname and noted the way her jaw clenched.

"Seriously! Shut your mouth!" she growled. Her eyes drifted skyward and she pulled what appeared to be a clear marble from it never letting Gaara go as she whispered strange words in a sing song voice. The marble glowed bright red and she threw it into the air. It rose high into the air and then exploded raining purple sparks down over the conjured forest. "Damn! He made a barrier around it!" she growled.

"A barrier?" Gaara repeated his eyes narrowing.

Onchou nodded. "He doesn't want us to get back out into the desert where we have the upper hand. He's forcing us to stay here and fight him here where he has the advantage." She frowned. "This really isn't looking good for us."

"Gaara! Onchou!" Naruto cried out as he watched them disappear into the strange forest and the shimmer as a barrier went up around it.

Earth Eater chuckled. "And Chimera says that I'm impatient. He must really want Princess all to himself. How disappointing."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto demanded. "What the Hell is that place?"

"It's Chimera's forest of nightmares, we usually use that for interrogations and torture." He chuckled. "The only ones that are going to be left standing when that barrier disappears will be Chimera."

"Don't underestimate Gaara." The Uzamaki growled.

"Worry about yourself!" Earth Eater roared slamming his fist into the ground cracking the ground beneath the blonde's feet.

Naruto leapt backwards and landed on a stone column. "Sai! We need to wrap this up quickly! Gaara and Onchou need our help!" Sai nodded and sent a barrage of beasts towards the bulky man. Earth Eater made quick work of them and was surprised when Naruto appeared behind him slamming a rasingan into his back. The bulky man went tumbling to the ground and coughed blood dripping from his mouth. He staggered to his feet and wiped the blood away his eyes narrowing.

"It's been a long time since someone's made me bleed like that." He muttered. "I'm going to make you pay for that." He formed hand signs and slammed his hand to the ground. "Earth Style Stone Soldier Jutus!" he exclaimed.

"Stone what!?" Naruto exclaimed as the ground began to shake. The Uzamaki stumbled backwards and watched in surprise as a giant creature made of rock rose from the ground. "Well that looks like it's going to be a pain in the butt to deal with." He muttered as the stone giant swiped at Sai who flipped off his ink bird and landed on the ground next to his partner.

"Do you have a plan?" Sai asked as Earth Eater leapt up to stand on the giant's head.

"Break the giant?" Naruto offered as the pair of shinobi leapt backwards as the behemoth lifted his foot to crush them.

Sai sighed. "Ok, you work on that and I'll take care of Earth Eater."

"That doesn't look good." Sasuke muttered as he watched the Forest of Nightmares materialize.

"Gaara! Onchou!" Sakura cried out leaping backwards to avoid a stream of fire.

"He he he!" Ember giggled. "Chimera's all riled up. Those two are done for."

"Sasuke! What do we do?" Sakura asked as he sprinted forward slamming a lightning charged fist into the portly man knocking him back a few feet. "Onchou and Gaara seem to be in big trouble!"

The Uchiha grit his teeth as he glanced at the small but dense forest searching for the chakra signatures of the violet haired girl and the Kazikage. "They're together and it doesn't seem like they've engaged Chimera in battle yet." He replied. "The best thing we can do is defeat this guy quickly and then go help them."

"Right." Sakura agreed running forward. As she did, she heard a little click and screamed as an explosive went off under her feet illuminating the night with a flash of brilliant white light.

Fear unlike any he had ever felt gripped Sasuke's heart as she vanished from his sight in the bright light of the explosion. Images of the pink haired genin who followed him around like a love sick puppy dog flashed through his mind. Those images quickly changed to the more determined looking chunin who stood beside Naruto and then confronted him later with a kunai in her hand. He remembered the war and the first time he'd first seen her truly show her monstrous strength, how his black heart had lightened a bit as he felt pride for how far his once helpless teammate had come. He remembered all the love she'd given him, all the times he'd touched her for good or bad his mind settling on her gentle kiss on his forehead and how perfectly she felt in his arms. The dark haired child he'd imagined her with recently, the times he'd imagined kissing her. Her smiling face, it all flashed before his eyes as he realized that there was a chance it was gone forever, his single speck of warmth in his dark abyss of an existence. The woman he'd never cherished the way he should have.

"Sakura! No!" Sasuke screamed in agony searching desperately for her chakra signature. He found it and watched in horror as her limp body was hurled through the air. He moved sprinting with lightning speed across the desert his eyes like a hawk's intent on his target. His eyes narrowed as he glanced at the ground and realized the space was littered with mines. "Damn it!" he hissed in his mind. "If I detonate any of these I'm in trouble but if I take my time to avoid them I won't make it in time to catch her!" he scanned the horizon and he hissed in frustration. "There's nothing in this bloody desert for me to switch places with either!" his eyes flashed as purple flames began to flow around him. "I'll have to use Susanoo even though I didn't want to use that much chakra or reveal my power this quickly." He said to himself as the giant began to take shape. He pushed the massive amount of chakra needed from his body and reached out with his hand. The giant followed and managed to catch the pink haired medic just before her body hit the ground.

"Sakura! Are you alright?!" he called out.

The girl in his giant's hand groaned in response and he breathed a tiny sigh of relief as the terrible fear left his heart. She was alive. His anger flared as his advanced eyesight took in the bruises and cuts that covered her body. That anger turned to rage as his gaze rested on her bloodied feet and legs.

"My my! I had no idea you possessed such incredible power." Ember gasped clearly fearful. He frantically slammed his hand into the desert floor and detonated all of the explosives at once. When the dust cleared the man's dark goggles had been blown off his face and the man was covered in bruises and cuts from the shrapnel he'd taken from his own weapons.

Sasuke pulled Sakura's body inside the place where he stood protecting her from the explosions and then turned his attention to man cowering in front of him. "You know, you remind me a little of man I once knew." He said softly as his Susanoo began to fade now that the danger to his partner was gone.

"You don't say." Ember stammered nervously.

"Yes, he was a fool who believed that true art was an explosion. We battled once in a situation similar to this one and he died in battle by his own hand trying to kill me." He said. He removed his cloak from his shoulders and laid it with gentleness the Uchiha didn't even know he possessed over Sakura's battered body checking to make sure she was still breathing before turning back to the portly man shivering in front of him. "You however are different from him, for what you did to Sakura I will not allow you the luxury of killing yourself." He said as he drew his katana and allowed the searing heat of his anger to transfer to his blade, lightning crackling around it and turning the silver blade blue. "Your end will come by my hand." He slashed forward taking the man's arm with his lightning blade. Ember screamed and dropped to the ground clutching at the stump where his arm had been.

"What have you done to me?!" the man demanded looking at the Uchiha. Sasuke's blood red eyes bored into his as he cast a genjutsu on the yellow eyed man.

Ember screamed and rolled around in the sand as a vision of himself being ripped to shreds by the Uchiha's blade consumed him until his mind broke and he collapsed on the sand. The instinct to kill the miserable wretch was forced out of the Uchiha's mind at the sound of Sakura's whimper of pain. Sasuke sheathed his blade and quickly dashed to the woman's side. He slipped and arm under her shoulders and helped ease her up as his heart pounded in his chest.

"Sakura! Talk to me Sakura!" he urged as the pink haired girl shuddered in his arms the blood seeping from her legs staining the sand around them red. He cursed his own helplessness as he laid her back down on the sand gently and pulled bandages from his pack and moved the cloak so that he could examine her feet. His stomach turned painfully as he noted the torn, singed flesh of her feet and legs. Her injuries weren't life threatening but they certainly were not light. The strips of white fabric quickly became stained red as he worked to cover her wounds and for the first time, he realized just how powerless he could be. Throughout his entire life he'd trained with only one purpose in mind, to defeat his enemies in battle. Nothing else mattered to him and his hard work had paid off. In terms of battle skills and power, he knew there were few if any that could defeat him. Medical ninjutsu was something he just hadn't bothered to learn, figuring he could always just find and use someone that had that power instead. That was the main reason he'd picked Karin to be on his team years ago. As he looked down at his fallen teammate he cursed himself for not only being unable to protect her but at the frustration of not having the ability to heal her. If the situation was reversed, he knew that he'd already be on his feet ready to battle again thanks to Sakura's power but as things stood now, all he could do was bandage her up and wait for her to come to so she could heal herself or find someone who could heal her instead.

"Damn it!" he growled. "I'm so useless!" his eyes widened at his own words and then he chuckled darkly and touched Sakura's face. "I think I finally understand how you feel Sakura." He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. "I hate it too." He raised his head slightly and then pressed his lips lightly to the indigo diamond on her forehead. "Please wake up." He murmured. "I need to know that you're ok."

"Sakura!" Naruto cried out as he felt the explosion, heard her shriek and watched her body fly through the air. He tapped into Kurama's power his body turning yellow and flickering with power ready to reach with one of his nine tails to catch the medic when a giant violet man appeared and caught her in his massive palm. "Sasuke!" he exclaimed. "He made it." He said breathing a sigh of relief.

"What kind of power is that?" Earth Eater demanded. "It looks like you're on fire."

"Naruto! It appears that Sakura has been injured!" Sai called down to his partner from where he crouched atop an ink owl of his own creation. "Sasuke laid her on the ground and she's not moving."

The Uzmaki's eyes flashed as concern for his teammate roared within him. "Kurama, we need to take care of this quickly so we can help Sakura."

The fox spirit within him nodded. "Of course. I'll do anything if it's for Sakura we both owe her."

Naruto nodded. "Exactly so let's finish this." He said cracking his knuckles.

"I asked you a question damn it! Answer me!" Earth Eater demanded. His stone soldier swiped at the young man knocking over several columns of rock which the blonde haired ninja easily avoided.

"Kurama, let's get rid of that stone soldier of his. It's really starting to piss me off." The Uzamaki said as tails began to form.

Kurama smirked. "With pleasure." He replied.

"Rasinshirtikan!" Naruto called out as he flung the mass of air and light at the massive being of stone slicing it cleanly in half.

Sai launched forward as the giant began to crumble and slammed the man to the ground below sinking the blade of his short sword into the man's chest as he did so.

"You brats have defeated me." Earth Eater wheezed. "But how?"

"We're team seven from The Fourth Great Ninja War." Sai replied simply.

"We've never been defeated in battle since the day the ten tails appeared." Naruto added. "You didn't stand a chance."

The man coughed. "Perhaps so, but the Kazikage and the Princess will fall. That is enough for me." He rasped before his eyes closed and his body went still.

Naruto and Sai sprinted to where Sasuke was tending to Sakura's wounds.

"Sasuke! How is she?" Naruto demanded kneeling beside his best friend.

"She hasn't regained consciousness yet but she's still breathing and her heartrate is good." He replied. The two other members of team seven breathed a sigh of relief and then turned their attention to the forest.

"What's going on in there?" Naruto asked. "Can you tell?"

Sasuke focused his eyes and nodded. "Onchou and Gaara are still together. Chimera is near them but it appears that neither one of them is attacking."

"What are they waiting for?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know." Sasuke admitted. "Those plants and trees don't look like anything I've ever seen before."

Naruto focused on the plants and frowned. "They look kind of like the plants from the forest where Pervy Sage and I used to train with the toads. If that Chimera guy pulled them from a different world or something like that, it could be that they're not attacking because they're not able to, and Chimera is just playing with them."

The Uchiha focused harder on the two semi-familiar chakra signatures. "I can't see any chakra leaving their bodies but you could still be right. Regardless the fact that they're trapped in that place with the enemy isn't good."

"What's wrong Princess? Why aren't you attacking? I know that you know where I am." Chimera said softly from the shadows. "What are you waiting for?"

Gaara took a step towards the voice but Onchou's grip on his arm only tightened and she pulled him back. "Don't fall for it." She warned the sand shinobi. "This place is called the Forrest of Nightmares." She explained. "Something about these plants effects the flow of chakra in the brain and causes hallucinations."

"We can't just stay here." The Kazikage retorted. "We're easy prey like this."

"I know that!" the teenaged girl snapped. "I'm trying to work out a plan." She raked her free hand through her pony tail and groaned in frustration. "If I was by myself this would be a totally different story. I'd be out of here in no time."

"What's the problem? This man is your new partner is he not? Just use that dirty trick you used to with Akira to get out of this mess." Chimera sneered.

Onchou growled in frustration and leapt into the air keeping a firm grip on the Kazikage as she deflected a shower of throwing needles with another blast of wind chakra. "Shut the Hell up! I've killed flies less annoying than you!" she yelled throwing a shuriken into the trees.

"Nice one! You nearly got me there." Chimera replied in the darkness as he flashed briefly through the trees before vanishing again. "Does that mean you're ready to fight me? I do hope so, this staring contest is boring."

"Who is Akira?" Gaara asked. "And could you let go of my arm?" he said shifting unfomrtably. He'd come a long way in terms of getting along with and understanding people. He now had friends he trusted and could rely on but physical contact was still something that he was uncomfortable with in most situations.

"Akira was my partner several years ago." She replied shortly. "And no I can't let go of your arm because I only want to fight one opponent not two."

"What are you saying?" Gaara asked.

The girl sighed. "This forest causes hallucinations remember? Due to special abilities I possess I'm basically immune to things like that particularly in this place since this isn't my first time being here. You on the other hand barely know me or my chakra signature and you're being exposed to this genjutsu for the first time. If I let go of you, I know for a fact that you'll fall under the genjutsu and come after me trying to kill me thinking I'm someone or something else. It happens every single time."

"You're so boring Princess! If you really don't want to fight both of us just do to him what you did to Akira. I'm getting bored and you know what happens when I get bored." He murmured dangerously.

"Get down!" Onchou called out pulling the Kazikage to the sandy floor with her. A blade of water slashed through the air barely missing the two taking out several trees near them.

"What technique is he referring to?" The Kazikage asked. "What did you and Akira do to survive in this place?"

She sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples. "We used a secret jutus known only to members of the warriors and leaders of my clan." She replied. "A mind linking jutsu that allows you to share your thoughts, chakra, and even certain abilities with your partner." She sighed. "But it's not just the fact that it's secret that I hesitate to use it. It's very… intimate. It's more than just a simple meeting of the minds, it's linking two souls together. You don't get to filter what your partner hears or sees. Every single thought, feeling and memory from the entire course of your life is passed directly to your partner. I haven't even used this justsu with Ryuu and I've known him his entire life." She studied the Kazikage. "You're practically a stranger to me and I to you. I seriously doubt you're willing to strip down to your soul, the very core of your being to me for what could be a one-time battle. I know that I'm not."

The Kazikage's eyes widened and then relaxed again. "I suppose you're right about that." He admitted.

"So that's what it was." Chimera said softy. "No wonder you two were so close and worked so well together. I can see why you feel apart when he died."

"If you understand that much then why do you keep running your damn mouth!?" she demanded. "I know you're trying to tick me off and believe me it's working but I'm not about to abandon this man to shut you up as much as I'd like to."

"Why not?" Chimera asked. "I know he's the Kazikage and everything but they can always get a new one."

Onchou shook her head. "You really don't have a clue about the value of human life. It's true I don't know him very well, but I can tell just by listening and watching the people around him that he is someone important and needed. Letting scum like you kill him is simply unacceptable."

Gaara's eyes widened as he looked at the amethyst eyed girl. He didn't understand why she was defending him or protecting him but it stirred something in him that he hadn't felt before. A loud crash reverberated through the forest and the semitransparent barrier shimmered.

"Who the heck is trying to take down my beautiful barrier?" Chimera demanded.

Onchou closed her eyes her brow furrowed in concentration and then smirked. "It seems that Earth Eater and Ember have both fallen." She replied. "Naruto and Sai seem to be looking for a weakness in his barrier." A little frown touched her lips. "It seems that Sakura has been injured and hasn't regained consciousness yet and the Dolls are starting to overwhelm your forces. I could heal her and help with those monsters if we could just get outside this barrier" She said opening her eyes and looking at the red haired man beside her.

His power flared at the mention of his people in trouble and sand leaked from his gourd in response. The violet haired teen's eyes widened as she noticed it.

"I think I have an idea." She said. "Can you use the sand on the forest floor?" she asked.

The Kazikage pushed with his chakra testing his power and nodded. "I can." He replied.

"Alright. I think I can get us out of here, or at least weaken the barrier from the inside so that Naruto can break us out." She replied. "I know this is a lot to ask considering the fact that I've clearly known the enemy longer than you but will you trust me?"

Gaara searched the girl's eyes and then slowly nodded. "I can." He replied. "What do you need of me?"

"I need you to create the largest sand storm you can with us at the center." She replied getting to her feet. "Do you need both hands to make signs?" she asked.

"I can use one." He replied.

"Perfect, because I'm going to need both hands." She replied. "I'll need you to do what  
I've been doing. Hold onto some part of me and don't let go no matter what. I don't care if the ghost of your brother, sister, lover, or mother shows up and begs you to follow them into Heaven. Do not let go. The only people inside this barrier are you me and the enemy, understand?"

"Of course." He replied.

"Alright. I won't let go of you until you're holding onto me." She said.

He complied and lifted the hand opposite of the one she was holding and gripped her shoulder shifting so that he stood behind her facing the same direction she was. "Does this work?" he asked.

"Yes it does." She replied releasing her hold on him. "Now let's do this."

He nodded and focused his chakra commanding the sand at his hip and the sand on the floor to submit to his will. It swirled around them picking up speed and power as he did so. Onchou moved her hands weaving signs and the air around them began to crackle with electricity.

"I thought you used wind chakra?" he remarked with curiosity.

The girl snickered. "I do." She replied simply.

The Kazikage tilted his head to the side and then gasped as he saw Naruto appear before them.

"Hey! I was worried about you two." The Uzamaki said grinning. "Common! We've got to help your bother!" he said extending his hand to the Kazikage.

He shifted forward his hand beging to leave the girl's shoulder when he felt a sharp pain in his foot.

"What did I tell you?!" Onchou demanded grinding the heel of her sandal into the top of his foot bruising the pale flesh. "Whomever you saw it wasn't who you thought it was! Don't let go of me!" her voice softened as she moved her foot away. "I'm almost there, just bear with me a little longer."

He nodded and tightened his grip on her shoulder as her signs stopped and he felt her chakra level rise to the surface as she prepared to release whatever power she'd been focusing.

"What are you doing? I don't like the feel of this." Chimera's voice came over the roar of the sand storm.

The violet eyed girl only smirked as she released her chakra lightning exploding around them striking the sand with blinding speed. The heat inside the forest increased exponentially and Gaara's eyes closed instinctively.

"Just a little more!" Onchou muttered her body shaking a little under Gaara's hand. "Now! Glass Dragon Jutsu!" she exclaimed as the heat vanished as suddenly as it came.

Gaara opened his eyes and was shocked to see that all of the sand was gone and that in front of him was a shimmering, transparent dragon whose body was clearly made up of tiny shards of glass.

"How did you do that?!" Chimera's voice demanded.

"Come now, didn't you tell me that you wanted me to fight seriously?" Onchou replied with a smirk. "Now let's get out of here!" she said thrusting her hands forward. "Destroy the barrier! Rip it to shreds!" she commanded the glass creature. It roared in response and shards of glass exploded from its mouth slamming into the barrier creaking tiny tears in the magic that knit it together.

"No! What are you doing? Curse you Princess!" Chimera's voice howled as glass rained down on the forest impaling the master manipulator. He fell to the sand floor staining it red.

A blast from the outside shook the barrier again and it began to fall apart the trees and plants drying with exposure to the harsh, dry, desert air.

"Jump!" she called to the Kazikage as the dragon moved towards them. They leapt together and landed on the creature's head as a blast of brilliant yellow light hit the barrier destroying it completely. The glass dragon burst through the top of it as it fell and then slithered down to the desert floor coming to rest in front of the surprised looking Uazmaki as the last remains of the Forest of Nightmares crumbled to dust.

"What in the world is that?" he asked as the odd team jumped from its head.

"This is the product of teamwork." Onchou replied. "Pretty cool huh? Sand plus lightning equals glass."

"Impressive." Sai agreed walking forward to study the glass creature.

"Thanks." She turned to the Kazikage. "Since sand heavily infused with your chakra is what formed the foundation of this, it'll respond to your every command. Please use it to protect your village. I'll get to work healing Sakura. Naurto, and Sai should probably go with you as back up. I don't know how long it'll last but it should be able to do a fair amount of damage before it breaks apart." She offered him a small smile. "You were a pretty good partner. Thank you for trusting me, even if it was only for a few minutes."

The Kazikage blinked in surprise and simply nodded in response before he reached out and touched the glass creature. "Help me protect my people." He said softly as he climbed atop its head and directed it forward to where his forces were fighting a losing battle against the lifeless, relentless Dolls. "Strike down every creature that bears a glowing orange mark on their head."

A low growl of obedience sounded in the creature's throat before it slinked forward shooting shards of glass at the Dolls. Sai and Naruto glided alongside the creature atop an ink bird taking out any Dolls left behind.

Sasuke looked up as the amethyst eyed girl approached him where he knelt beside Sakura. "It looks like you fared better than we did." He replied as she knelt beside him.

"I wouldn't say that." She replied. "Our wounds just aren't the type that are visible even to your eyes." Onchou's hands began to glow with green light as she passed them over the pink haired medic's body the bruises and scrapes quickly fading as the young woman worked. "It seems that she didn't sustain any internal damage." She said softly as her hands worked their way down to her legs and feet. "And these wounds are much less severe than they look." Sasuke nodded a weight lifting off his chest at her words. "You know you should stop fighting it so much." The girl said after a few moments.

"Fighting what?" he asked.

"Your heart." She replied easily. "I'm sure you think you have some grand, important reason for denying your heart what it wants so desperately but in the end, you're only going to end up hurting her and yourself."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Don't play dumb with me." Onchou replied. "I can hear your soul song remember? It desperately wants to harmonize with hers but you're not letting it. The tension is really starting to get on my nerves."

"What are you getting at? Just spit it out!" He hissed.

"For crying out loud you stupid Uchiha! Tell the girl you love her already!" she snapped.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise his mouth dropping open slightly. "I…" he stammered. He loved Sakura? That couldn't be right? She was important to him and he care about her deeply but he didn't love her. Maybe he did in a brother, sister kind of way…

"Don't even try to deny it." Onchou said interrupting him. "Even if I couldn't hear your song I'd be able to tell. Don't try to twist my words either and try to dilute yourself into thinking it's a brother and sister kind of love. I'm talking about the mushy, romantic, red roses, and kisses type love." The Uchiha stared at the teenage girl as he tried to process her words. So he didn't just love Sakura he was _in_ love with Sakura, the once clingy genin who wouldn't leave him alone. Onchou chuckled at the expression on his face and then sighed. "Look, I don't know all of the details but I know that you've hurt a lot of people and have done some awful things. I know that you probably did something or even many terrible things to her so you think that you don't deserve her." She glanced up at the stars her hands still glowing green as she worked to repair the emerald eyed woman's feet. "I can promise you though that in spite of all that, this woman is truly deeply in love with you. Even if you think she deserves better or that someone else will make her happier her feelings for you will never change. Which leaves you with two choices." She looked back at the Uchiha. "You either listen to your heart and make up for the pain you caused her by loving her with everything you have for the rest of your life, or you listen to your head and damn her to a lifetime of pain loving a man she can never have and yourself to a lifetime of loneliness loving a woman you never allowed yourself to have. All over your stupid guilt and pride." She moved her hands to Sakura's head and looked at him again. "I'm going to wake her up now but I have one more thing to say before I do. Food for thought I guess you could call it. If fostering hatred is truly what brought the Uchiha clan to ruin, wouldn't fostering love bring it back brighter and better than ever?"

Sasuke blinked at her words and then glanced down at the pink haired woman lying on the ground in front of him as the vision of her laughing with a dark haired child bearing the Uchiha crest on it's back entered his mind again. "Did anyone tell you that you talk too much?" he asked his tone bitter in spite of the hardly perceptible upturning of his lips.

"Nope, you're the first one." She replied with a little smile. Her hands lightly touched the medic's forehead and she opened her emerald green eyes. "My work here is done." She said getting to her feet. "Do you mind if I rest a bit?"

"Not at all." Sasuke replied. "Thank you Onchou."

"Don't get all sentimental on me now." She replied. "You'll tarnish that reputation of yours for being a heartless demon."

He smirked as she walked over to a rock that put her just out of earshot of the couple and sat down resting her arms on her knees clearly tired. Making a mental note to thank her properly later he turned his attention to Sakura. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he helped her sit up.

"Not too bad actually." She replied glancing at the violet haired girl sitting with her head between her knees a few yards away. "She healed me didn't she?"

He nodded. "It seems she overdid it a little though."

Sakura chuckled. "As her teammate I'm grateful to her but as her medical service provider, I'm mad as Hell." She looked at him and her green eyes sharpened her brow creasing. "What's wrong Sasuke?"

He pulled her against his chest and buried his face in her hair needing reassurance that she was alive and well. "I'm so glad you're alright." He said softly in her ear. "When that explosive went off, I was afraid you were dead. I've never been more terrified in my entire life."

"Come on Sasuke. Don't joke like that." Sakura replied with a smile.

"I'm not joking." He replied pulling back from her. His hands moved to cup her face in his hands. "I'm dead serious." He leaned his forehead against hers an expression of love he'd learned from his beloved brother. "The thought that you'd gone somewhere that I couldn't follow…" he took a deep breath. "It was nearly more than I could bear."

"Sasuke." She replied her voice soft as she lifted her hand hesitantly to touch his forehead brushing his bangs out of his eyes. "I'm ok, really."

He grabbed her hand and held it in his own. The hand that had reached out to him, tried to save him, supported him, welcomed him home, and healed him. The hand that had nearly gone still forever due to his negligence. He pressed it against his cheek and closed his eyes basking in her warmth, letting it fill his heart and drive out the fear and anger lingering there. After a few moments, just holding her hand wasn't enough for him. He turned his head and nuzzled the edge of her hand along her pinkie finger lightly with his nose breathing deeply before he brought it down to his mouth and pressed a gentle but firm kiss to the center of her palm savoring the feel of her skin against his. His eyes drifted open when he heard the quiet gasp that escaped her lips. His heart rate increased and an electric shock seemed to flow through his entire being when he saw a spark of something new and slightly dangerous smoldering inside her eyes alongside the love and surprise he was expecting to see. He felt an intense desire to kiss her and learn more about that spark but pushed it aside instead to tell her some of the feelings he'd kept locked away for far too long. He took her hands in his gripping them tightly as he bowed his head. "Sakura, I'm begging you. Don't go where I can't see you. Please." He murmured softly.

"I won't." Sakura said as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. One wraped around his waist while the other went across his shoulder cupping the back of his head pulling it gently to her shoulder. "I'll stay by your side always, I promise."

As usual her gentle touch and sincere words quieted the dark voices in his head. He closed his eyes and wrapped his own arms around her waist. "Thank you Sakura, for everything." He replied softly feeling at peace for the first time in years.

P.S. Once again a chapter ended up way longer than I intended it to be. Whoo! Anyway, I'm really liking the direction this story is going. I know some people are going to be irritated that my OC and Gaara seem to be giving off potential love interest vibes but I really don't care. Gaara has gotten the short end of the stick more than once and I adore his character but can't really think of any female characters in the Naruto universe that would really be a good fit for him so I made up my own. If you have a problem with that, I apologize. Anyway, I hope this was enough sugar for you. Thanks for reading everyone! I really appreciate it! I also wrote a little one shot called Big News about how I imagined Sakura and Sasuke would react to the news that Sakura was expecting so if you want something to read until I get the next chapter out, feel free to read that. You guys are awesome! Seriously!


	13. Chapter 13

Onchou smiled at the couple sitting near her a little chuckle escaping her lips. "Stupid Uchiha." She muttered. "I suppose that'll have to do for now." She said as she watched him lay his head against Sakura's shoulder. Her attention was diverted to the battlefield by the sound of yelling and she closed her eyes to better assess the situation using her hearing. After a few moments she sighed and opened her eyes. "Gaara, Naruto and Sai are doing a pretty good job but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to lend them a hand. The faster we get this over with the sooner I can get Ryuu into bed." She said to herself as she stood from where she'd been resting on a rock. She stood and stretched her arms above her head and laughed at herself. "Geeze, I sound like an old lady."

"I'm heading out to give the rest of the boys a hand." She called out to the couple huddled together nearby. Sasuke nodded and she returned the gesture before sprinting towards the knot of shinobi and Dolls fighting nearby. She smiled as she watched the glass dragon she'd created with the help of the Kazikage slither through the air with the red head standing on its head with his arms crossed over his chest as he directed the beast to take out the enemy. Her ears picked up on the sound of a man grunting in pain and she turned surprised to see a man dressed in black with purple face paint fighting two of the remaining dolls using a puppet that reminded her of a beetle with its multiple arms. She concentrated on his song and the songs of the dolls as she sprinted towards him. A male Doll armed with a massive ax lopped off several of the puppet's arms and then knocked the puppet master back several feet. His female partner followed intent on killing the man and Onchou leapt in front of him and his puppet and avoided the woman's kunai attack and let lightning chakra flow into her fist and slammed it into the woman's chest launching her backwards with a hole in her chest. Knowing the woman's wound was fatal, Onchou turned to the puppeteer and extended her hand to him helping him to his feet.

"Thanks for that." He murmured. "I was worried there for a second."

"You're very welcome." She replied simply her hand glowing green as she sent her healing chakra into his body taking care of the gashes and deep bruises she noticed on his body.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Aren't you that girl that Naruto brought in? Why are you fighting? I thought you were supposed to be in bed."

Onchou chuckled. "I'm not really the type that can sit in bed while a battle rages outside." Her ears picked up on another song of death and her brow furrowed. "You can take care of that guy right?" she said motioning to the ax wielding Doll.

"Of course. I owe him for wrecking my puppet." The man replied.

She nodded and then sprinted away towards the sound of the ominous song glancing around as she went. "Most of the Dolls are dead." She muttered. "This shouldn't take much longer." She found the source of the hunting melody of death and sighed heavily. "I should've known." She muttered. Just ahead of her, a pair of young sand shinobi stood side by side gushing as Gaara on the head of the glass dragon swept through the battle field towards them searching for the few remaining Dolls and calling out to his men where the injured were.

"Lord Gaara is so cool!" one of the girl's gushed blush rising to her cheeks. She tossed her brown hair and sighed. "He's the best Kazikage ever!"

"I know right?" the blonde haired shinobi next to her agreed a little squeak of excitement leaving her throat. "He's so mysterious, strong, and powerful. What I wouldn't give to be by his side." She cooed.

Onchou rolled her eyes at the girl's shallow affections and then moved faster as she pinpointed the two Dolls preparing to attack the girls a few feet ahead of them shifting slowly and using the bodies of their fallen comrades to cover their movements.

"AH! He's coming this way!" the brunette exclaimed as the Kazikae directed the dragon in their direction.

"Should we call out to him?" the blonde asked.

"Why not? All of the nasty creatures over here are dead." The brunette replied.

"Alright. On the count of three then." The blond said.

"Stupid girls." Onchou hissed as the blonde counted down pushing herself faster as the two Dolls raised kunai ready to throw at the girls.

"Lord Gaara!" they called out in unison.

"Idiots!" Onchou yelled leaping through the air as the girl's sudden yelling startled the Dolls who panicked, throwing their weapons faster than the violet haired girl anticipated. Knowing she was nearing her limit chakra wise and knowing full well her pain tolerance, she materialized in front of the two girls. She spread her arms wide and winced as the four kunai hit her, two sinking into the flesh of her abdomen, one burying itself in her chest just below her shoulder and the fourth one hitting her in the thigh.

"What? How did that happen? I didn't see them!" the blonde exclaimed her blue eyes widening as she saw the two Dolls rise from the ground arming themselves with steel bow staffs.

"Where on earth did they come from!?" the brunette gasped her hands trembling.

Ignoring the pain and the girl's words she reached behind her pulling her sword from her back and let her lightning chakra flow into the blade and rushed forward swinging the sword with precision drawing the two Dolls in half.

Gaara stared in shock at the amethyst eyed girl standing below him. She'd taken blows for people she'd never met and then immediately defeated her enemy without even a flicker of hesitation. He watched as she sheathed her sword and then pulled the kunai from her body her hands glowing green as she sealed the holes. This woman was different from others he'd met and he couldn't deny that he wanted to know more about her.

Onchou turned to the girls and looked them over quickly. "Are you two alright?" she asked.

"Yes. We're fine." The blonde replied.

"Where did those things come from?" the brunette asked.

Gaara moved closer to them and the girl's both looked down blushing furiously. Onchou took a deep breath irritated with the two and decided to give them just a little piece of her mind.

"I think you two need a little more training especially if you have your sights set on the Kazikage." She said. The girl's looked at her their eyes widening and their jaws dropping even as Gaara moved closer now clearly within earshot. "The duty of the Queen is to protect the King not admire him."

The Kazikage tilted his head a little making it clear he'd heard her words and Onchou looked up at him. She opened her mouth to speak and then leapt towards him instead her hand cracking with lightning even as he leapt towards her. In a flash, the violet haired girl electrocuted the Doll behind Gaara as he destroyed the Doll behind her with a blast of sand. They landed side by side and the amethyst eyed girl smirked.

"Thanks for having my back." She said softly. He nodded and she closed her eyes and focused checking the village and the battlefield for any remaining Dolls, the tattoos on her ears glowing silver as she did so. After a moment they turned black again and she opened her eyes. "Lord Kazikaged, all of the Dolls are dead." She said looking at the pale eyed shinobi.

He nodded in response. "Thank you for all your help." He said in his low, deliberate drawl.

"Of course." Onchou replied a little smile touching her lips. "It was an honor to help you protect your people." Her brow furrowed and she fell forward towards the desert floor as her exhaustion and injuries finally taking their toll. She was surprised when Gaara reached out and caught her helping her remain upright.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She grimaced. "I've been better." She admitted. Her eyes widened when the Kazikage tugged her up into his arms sweeping her off her feet.

"Come, let's get you back to the hospital." He said carrying her away from the battlefield.

"You really don't have to carry me. If I just rest of a few minutes I'll be able to walk back on my own." Onchou said furious at how her heart pounded in her chest and blush rose to her cheeks at the sensation of being cradled against his chest.

"I insist." He replied. "It's the least I can do. After all, you've done for me and my people tonight."

She sighed too weak at the moment to fight his reasoning and allowed herself to lean her head against his chest. It had been so long since someone had held her so gently and she decided that just this once, she'd allow herself to rely on someone to help her. He was the Kazikage after all, he could get her back to her hospital room without betraying her at least.

"I want to be carried by Lord Gaara!" the blonde girl whined as she watched the red haired shinobi walk away.

The brunette nodded. "Me too!" she sighed. "She does deserve it though. I mean, she saved our lives and his just now."

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"Hey! Are you alright?" Naruto asked Kankuro as he came across the puppeteer on the battle field.

"Yeah, I'm good." He replied as he glanced up at the Uzamaki. "I can't say the same for my puppet though." He said motioning to the contraption.

"I see. Better the puppet than you right?" Sai said standing beside his whiskered teammate.

The sand shinobi nodded. "Yeah. If it weren't for that purple eyed girl, more than just my puppet would be in pieces." He looked up at Naruto. "What did you say her name was? Onchou?"

Naruto grinned and nodded. "Yeah, she's something else isn't she? I mean, that glass dragon she and Gaara made was pretty amazing wasn't it?"

The sand shinobi's brow raised at that. "She and Gaara made that? They worked together?"

The two leaf shinobi nodded. "Yeah. They worked really well together from what I could see." Sai said.

"That's a bit of a surprise." Kankuro said as he put the broken pieces of his puppet inside its case.

"What do you mean?" Naurto asked handing a piece of puppet to the hooded man.

"Gaara's never really worked well with anyone else in battle." He replied. "Don't get me wrong, he's really come a long way since you beat him senseless all those years ago, but when it comes to fighting, he usually goes at it alone. To make something that complex in the midst of battle like that must mean that this Onchou girl and my brother work well together." He shut and the case and lifted it onto his back. "I'm really curious about her now."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, she's definitely interesting. She was supposed to be in the hospital still." He glanced ahead and squinted a little smirk coming to his lips. "Well will you look at that? Your brother is carrying Onchou in his arms. They seem to be headed back to the village."

"No way!" Kankuro replied straining his eyes as he looked in the same direction Naruto was. His eyes widened and then he chuckled. "Well I'll be damned. Look at that kid go. Now I have to find out more about this girl."

"Sasuke, this is ridiculous! Onchou did a great job on my feet you don't have to carry me." She insisted squirming in the Uchiha's arms.

"Just shut up and let me carry you." He replied as the entered the narrow passage way that connected Suna to the rest of the desert. "We're already more than halfway there."

Sakura sighed and crossed her arms over her chest her bottom lip sticking out slightly as she pouted. Sasuke nearly smirked at her expression, it reminded him so much of their genin days when she was easily offended. After a few moments however, her arms relaxed and she leaned her head against his chest.

"You know, when you hold me like this, it almost feels like you love me." She whispered just loud enough that he knew that she knew he could hear it. He glanced down at her a little frustrated that he couldn't see her expression from the angle he was holding her but was able to see that the tips of her ears were pink meaning she was blushing. His grip on her tightened slightly as he gritted his teeth Onchou's words from before echoing in his mind. "Just tell the girl you love her already!" That sounded easy enough but it really wasn't that simple. In his life every person he'd ever loved had at some point died or tried to kill him her included. It was his fault and he knew that she was only trying to save him from himself at the time but still. The word love was a frightening one to him. Just the knowledge that he loved her as much as he did in the way that he did was terrifying. She said the words with such ease in spite of all the pain he'd put her through. Why couldn't he do the same?

"I'm only joking." Sakura said suddenly. "I know that I'm just a friend."

He glanced down at her his brow furrowing. What was she going on about now?

"I mean, I know I'm not special or anything. I'm just like all the other girls right?" she said her tone cheerful but cracking a little with what he knew were unshed tears. He was furious with her and himself. Why couldn't he spit out the words she needed to hear? Why did she lump herself together with all of the oblivious fan girls that chased him? There had to be something he could do, something to show her what he didn't yet have the courage to say. He abruptly came to a stop and put her down desperate to see her face. When he finally caught a glimpse of it, he was even angrier, she was hurt again because of him. He moved forward and trapped her against the wall with his arms his eyes dark as he glared down at her.

"You don't really believe that do you?" he demanded.

She blinked in surprise and then looked away. "Well, I know I'm not like all of the other girls I guess but I also know that I'm not really that special anyway. Don't worry about it though. I really am happy just being by your side again as your teammate and your friend. I don't need anything else." She said her voice cracking.

He frowned. She was lying and he knew it. "Sakura, look at me and say that again." He said softly.

She glanced at him her eyes refusing to meet his. "What do you mean Sasuke?" she asked.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't need anything else." He replied moving his body closer to hers as he sensed her desire to run.

"What's gotten into you Sasuke?" she said chuckling nervously tucking a strand of blush colored hair behind her ear.

"I'm pissed off!" he growled. "Do you really think that you're like all of the other girls around me? Do you honestly believe that I think of you in the same way I think of them?"

She swallowed hard and kept her eyes trained at the ground. "I don't know." She stammered. "I just…"

"Sakura! Look at me!" he demanded his irritation flaring even more as he dug his fingers into the stone wall.

"Sasuke, stop." She replied putting her hands on his chest trying to push him away. "Just let me go, I need to go help with the injured." She said moving to slip under his arms.

Sasuke took a deep breath and threw caution to the wind as she slipped away from him. He couldn't say the words, not yet. It was too hard and he hadn't had enough time to come to terms with everything, but there was something he could do to prove to her that she wasn't like all of the others. An action that he'd never done willingly with anyone else before. He would make her feel all the way to the tips of her toes that she wasn't just another girl. Using his ninja speed he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to him his grip nearly tight enough to leave bruises.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed looking up at him with tears shimmering in her eyes. "I already told you that I-" He didn't let her finish as he released her arm and instead grabbed her face with his hands and leaned down closing his eyes as he crushed his lips to hers.

Sasuke was a man who was very familiar with fire and electricity. They were the strongest elements at his core after all. He knew the sharp white hot heat of lightning and the warm searing heat of flames better than just about anyone else. The heat he felt run through his body as his mouth pressed against Sakura's was something on an entirely different level than both of those. It was exhilarating like lightning making even the ends of his hair tingle with the sensation of it yet warm and comfortable like fire. His good hand slid back into her silken, rose colored locks as his other went to her waist pulling her against him as his heart pounded out of control in his chest. The heat inside of him continued to rise and he wanted more though he wasn't exactly what more was he just knew he wanted more of her. Her satin lips were warm and soft against his and her body fit perfectly against his making him never want to let go. Certain he'd made his point and overwhelmed by his own feelings he released her and then leaned his forehead against hers feeling a swelling of pride when he realized that her breathing was just as ragged as his own.

When he finally caught his breath he moved his hands back to frame her face. "Sakura." He said softly waiting until her emerald eyes met his. "I'll never let you go. You are not like the others. You mean more to me than any other girl in this world."

She nodded her cheeks bright red as a little smile came to her lips. He nodded in satisfaction and then lifted her up into his arms.

"Wait! This again?" she stammered.

He smirked. "Just deal with it. I know that you're weak at the knees."

She blushed even deeper at his comment and he chuckled. He was confident now that she knew at least more of his feelings now and vowed to continue showing her just how much she meant to him and someday, someday soon he would finally say those three words to her.

Onchou winced as a medic worked on her finishing the rough job she'd done healing herself on the battle field and reconnecting her to her IV's and the monitors.

"You're probably going to hear this from Lady Sakura but I'll tell you anyway. You've set yourself back at least three days with what you did today." The blonde young man said crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at her chart.

The violet haired girl cringed and shrugged. "I'm really sorry." She replied.

The young man sighed. "Well since you helped defend our village and saved our Kazikage I'll let it slide however," his blue eyes sharpened. "Sneak out again and I'll strap you down to your bed got it!?"

She gulped and nodded. "I got it. Sorry."

He nodded checked her IV one last time before heading towards the door. A familiar voice came through the door as he began to leave the room.

"Can I see her? Please!" came Ryuu's panicked voice.

"I suppose since Lady Temari is with you. Try to keep it down as much as possible ok?" the medic replied.

Before the door had even closed Ryuu was on top of her his arms wrapped tightly around her neck as tears flowed down his cheeks. "I'm so glad you're safe!" he exclaimed burying his face in her shoulder. "I was so worried when I smelled your blood." He whimpered.

She winced a little as her wounds throbbed and raised a hand to touch his head. "I'm sorry for making you worry." She replied softly. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

He loosened his grip on her and pressed his lips to her neck just as Temari walked past the curtain her eyes wide. "Umm…" the blonde sand shinobi muttered clearly uncomfortable.

Ryuu pulled away and his eyes narrowed as he looked at the amethyst eyed girl. "How in the world did you get hit with four kunai?" he demanded. "You're way better than that."

Onchou sighed and glanced at the blonde woman. "Ryuu can sense the body's condition including injuries through skin on skin contact." She explained. "His lips are the most sensitive and since the blood flows closest to the skin at the jugular vein this is his preferred method of checking my health." She explained.

"Oh. That makes a little more since." Temari said relaxing a little.

"Answer my question Onchou!" the child demanded folding his arms over his chest.

She bowed her head and touched her finger tips to her temple. "I saved a couple of airheads from two Dolls." She explained. "They were too busy gawking at their Kazikage to notice them."

The blonde woman growled. "Those idiot fan girls. Always causing trouble. Let me guess, it was a blonde with blue eyes that had her hair pulled into a half pony tail and a brunette with green eyes and shoulder length hair?"

Onchou blinked. "Yeah. Those are the ones."

Temari sighed. "I'm going to run them into the ground at their next training session." She muttered darkly.

The violet haired girl snickered at that and then her eyes widened and a grin came to her lips. "Well it's about damn time you stupid Uchiha." She said quietly earning a strange look from Temari and a knowing grin from Ryuu.

"What are you talking about?" the blonde asked.

"Nothing." Onchou replied quickly. The door slid open and Naruto, Sai and Kankuro walked into the hospital room quickly turning up the volume.

"Onchou!" Naruto exclaimed walking up to her bedside. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Not too bad. Yourself?"

He grinned. "Just a couple of scratches. Nothing major."

"I'm glad to hear it." she replied with a smile.

The black hooded man approached her bedside and extended a hand to her. "Thank you for saving me today. I didn't get a chance to thank you properly before."

"There's no need to thank me." She replied. "I only did what any decent person would've done."

He shook his head. "Even so you still saved my life. Please." He said moving his hand closer.

She took it cautiously feeling a little uncomfortable yet warm at the same time.

"It appears that I need to thank you again." A low voice said making the amethyst eyed girl's heart race. Gaara appeared at her bedside and stood next to the man with purple stripes on his face. "You saved my brother's life as well. I am in your debt."

"Gaara." Temari said her eyes widening slightly. "Are you saying this girl saved you?"

He nodded. "More than once."

The blonde looked at her with gratitude in her eyes. "Then I must thank you too. You protected my precious brothers for me. Thank you very much." She said bowing.

Onchou blushed and held her hands out. "Please don't bow to me." She stammered. "You protected my family for me too." She said touching Ryuu's shoulder.

"Even so," Temari said. "I'm grateful to you."

The amethyst eyed girl chewed on her lip nervously as she glanced around the room.

"You're not used to being thanked for what you do for people are you?" Sai said from where he stood in the corner.

The dark skinned girl's eyes widened and then lowered. "I suppose not." She admitted.

The door slid open again and Sasuke walked inside with Sakura at his side. Onchou immediately met the eyes of the Uchiha and grinned as blush colored his cheeks before she looked away deciding that she'd save him from embarrassment for the moment. The harmony his soul was making with Sakura's was too beautiful for her to want to disturb by teasing him.

Sakura picked up the young woman's chart looked it over and then smacked the metal clip board over the girl's head.

"What did you do that for?" Ryuu demanded as the amethyst eyed girl winced and pressed her hands to the top of her head.

"No. It's ok. I deserved that." Onchou replied cringing. "I'm sorry I snuck out."

"You better be! You're recovery has been set back by at least three days now." The pink haired medic lectured before putting the chart back.

Onchou sighed and then glanced around feeling the atmosphere change as the eyes of the leaf shinobi and the Kazikage settled on her. "You want to know how much time I think you have before another attack, correct?" she said glancing around the room.

They nodded even as Temari and Kankuro's brows furrowed with confusion. "How would you know something like that?" the puppeteer asked.

The violet haired girl sighed. "Because used to be a part of the organization that was responsible for the attack." She replied running her fingers through her hair. "Ryuu, will you help me sit up?" she said extending her hand towards him.

"Allow me." Gaara said taking her hand instead and helping her adjust.

She winced as the wounds left by kunai throbbed and then took a deep breath as she studied the group. "To be completely honest, I don't know." She replied. "In all of the years I was there, I only failed two missions and that was because they were simply impossible. I can only give you my estimation based on the few times I went to complete unfinished missions and what I heard from others. Since we killed every member of the team including all of the Dolls it will take some time for news to get back to their headquarters that the mission failed. I'm guessing around a week give or take. Also because their target was someone so high profile, they'll do one of three things, launch a full scale attack soon, back away completely and try to reach their goal another way, or wait until things cool off and then try using a similar approach later." She touched her hand to her temple as her mind worked. "Since I don't know the purpose for their attack here, I couldn't really give you a decent guess on which of those paths they'll take. Regardless, I'd say we'll have a minimum of three weeks before they could assemble and deploy another team even if they picked the quickest option."

"Well at least that gives us a starting point." Sasuke said pulling up a chair and motioning for Sakura to sit down which she grudgingly did lifting her still healing feet and resting them on a second chair.

"What organization is this?" Kankuro asked. "This is the first I've heard of it."

"It's a criminal organization run by a man named Takuma." Sakura explained.

"It operates in much the same way that Orochimaru's organization used to." Sasuke added. "It only makes sense considering the two men are colleges and have similar goals."

"Fantastic." Temari muttered. "Because two mad scientists in this world wasn't enough."

"I think that you should tell us everything." Gaara said.

"Everything? What do you mean everything?" Onchou replied her brow knitting together in confusion.

"Your life story." He elaborated. "The more we know about you, the more we'll be able to learn about Takuma since you spend the most amount of time with him. In addition, you're here because you were told your father was a shinobi from this village correct?" she nodded and he continued. "Since you'll be here for a little while it would be helpful to learn what we can so that hopefully we can help you find the answers you seek."

Onchou chuckled and then sighed. "I see. Well then, take a seat. This could get long."

P.S. They kissed! Kyaa! That was fun to write. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter I know I did. You guys are awesome! Thank for all of your support!


	14. Chapter 14

Onchou shifted getting more comfortable as she allowed her mind go back to the place she seldom visited anymore. The world of her past.

"I was born in a village called Heiwa." She said looking down at her hands. "It was located somewhere here in The Land of Wind but I couldn't tell you where. My grandmother was the village's leader and protector and had been for many years. Shortly before I was conceived our village was attacked by a large group of allied rouge ninja. During the battle many of our people were lost and my grandmother requested assistance from The Village Hidden in the Sand. Help quickly arrived and the sand ninja were able to help drive out the intruders. According to my mother, my father was among the warriors that had been sent to help them and she fell in love with him after he personally saved her life. He reciprocated her feelings and after spending a night with her, he left with the rest of his comrades promising to come back for her. What happened after that is a bit of a mystery. My grandparents and mother refused to talk about it much but it was clear that the circumstances following that night were mysterious. My mother ran away from home and gave birth to me alone."

She clutched the sheets. "According to my grandmother, my mother went into labor early and lost her mind during the ordeal and in her state of madness she buried me alive." Eyes around the room widened at the words and Sakura gasped. Onchou took a deep breath and then continued. "My grandparents made it in time to save me and I was brought back to the village with my mother. There I was primarily raised by my grandparents since my mother's mental state was still pretty fragile. She couldn't look at me for long before she'd start screaming. My grandmother was strict and began teaching me the ninja arts at a very young age as well as how to use my ears." She took a deep breath and shuddered as she remembered her grandmother's harsh teaching style and then continued.

"Anyway, when I was five years old our village was attacked again but this time our enemy was better prepared and was led by a man wielding the sharringan." She said glancing at Sasuke who met her eyes briefly. "We didn't stand a chance. Somehow, my grandparents, mother and I made it out but we were the only ones. Everyone else in our village was slaughtered." She frowned. "After that we became nomadic, traveling from village to village during the next four years. My grandparents assured me that they were just looking for a place to settle down but over time I began to sense an ominous presence just before they would pick up and move. It soon became apparent to me that we were being pursued by someone or something. When I was nine years old, we were living in a tiny village in the land of Ogres. One day a heard the song of death in our house and left my room to investigate. I walked into my grandparents room and found them both dead." She shuddered at the memory and felt Ryuu touch her hand offering her a small smile. Gaining courage from his gentle touch, she continued. "I ran from the room and into the living room where I found a man standing over my mother who was screaming for my father to rescue her. Obviously, he didn't come and she died in front of my eyes."

"How awful." Sakura said softly glancing at Sasuke who nodded and rested his hand on the medic's shoulder.

"Seriously, that's messed up, did the guy not see you?" Naruto asked.

"Oh no. He knew I was there." Onchou replied. "He looked directly at me right before he killed her and said 'This is all your fault'."

Naruto's hands balled into fists. "What kind of sick twisted person says that to a kid right before they murder their mother?" he growled.

"Takuma." She replied simply. "He also told me that it was my fault that my village had been destroyed because I hadn't been old enough to wield the power I carried within me to protect them."

"Power? What power?" Sai asked.

The violet eyed girl shook her head. "I have no idea what he was talking about. Regardless, he told me that if I didn't come with him, he'd kill the rest of the villagers and then he take me anyway. I was only nine years old at the time and I knew that I didn't have any way to take care of myself so I went with him." She lifted the sleeve of her gown revealing the number 269. "I received this the next day and from then on he began experimenting on me as well as putting me through rigorous training. I was the only female test subject he kept at the main lab with him and the youngest so the first two years were extremely difficult for me as I tried to adjust." She took a deep breath and noted that Ryuu was drifting asleep in her lap. She reached out and touched him on the forehead putting him into a deeper sleep before she continued.

"What I'm about to say now is something that Ryuu doesn't know. I don't intend on telling him any time soon either alright?" she said glancing around the room. Those gathered nodded and she continued. "After that, Ryuu was created in the lab. When he was fully formed, Takuma took me with him to The Land of Swamps and there he summoned a dragon."

Crow's eyes widened and Temari's jaw dropped. "A real dragon?" he stammered.

She nodded. "Yes, the dragon's name is Hisame." She said. "We battled it together with a few of Takuma's strongest test subjects but only Takuma and I survived. I managed to get it under control and was about to force it back when he brought out Ryuu who was just an infant at the time and forced me to help him seal Hisame inside of him." Naruto's eyes hardened slightly and Gaara's eyes did the same. Onchou gripped her hair in her hands pulling slightly as tears formed in her eyes. "It was awful. It nearly killed him. I had to continuously pour my chakra into him for almost a week while Takuma injected him with drugs to induce rapid growth to save him. She released her hair and lightly touched the child. "After that, I became responsible for his care. Takuma didn't have the time or desire to raise a child and I have the power to control Hisame in the event that the seal is broken. It's the only thing that made sense. We've been together ever since."

"I see. That's why you two are so close." Sakura said. "It's only natural given the circumstances. Ryuu's basically like your child right?"

Onchou chuckled and smiled slightly. "A mother at age eleven. Bet you never heard of that one before."

"That's a heavy burden to carry, particularly for one so young." Gaara said softly.

"Seriously." Naruto replied. "When I was eleven I was busy thinking up ways to get people to pay attention to me and how to beat Sasuke at school. I can't imagine having to take care another person at that age."

"You could barely take care of yourself." Sasuke reminded him with a sneer.

Onchou smiled at the exchange and then continued her story. "Around this same time, Takuma expressed a desire for me to start going outside the laboratory on missions to 'earn my keep' since raising his experiment wasn't enough I suppose. He tried to match me up with a team but he couldn't find anyone that worked well with me. Then he brought Akira in." she smiled at the memory. "He was handpicked by Takuma like I had been and taken from his family by force. Takuma threatened to track down and kill his older sister if he didn't comply so he grudgingly agreed. He was thirteen at the time and we got along immediately in spite of his quiet nature. As it turned out, he was a prodigy excelling at fire and earth jutsu the two elements I have the least amount of proficiency in and wind the element I'm the most adept in." she sighed. "The amount of chakra he had was astonishing and I've never met anyone who could wield a chain and scythe as well as he could. The two of us along with Ryuu were formed into a team. The ones in the lab called us team CR."

"CR?" Naruto said his brow creasing. "What's that stand for?"

"It depended on who you asked." She replied. "To those who thought we received special treatment because of our young age, it stood for Child Royalty. Those guys we fought tonight, they kept calling me Princess remember? That's why."

"Oh ok. Well that makes sense. What did everyone else say it stood for?" he asked.

Onchou smirked her eyes darkening slightly "Children Reapers." She replied.

"That's a pretty dark name for a team." Sai said.

The violet girl shrugged. "We weren't the ones that picked it." She replied. "However, we certainly earned it." She said her head lowering as she gripped the sheets. "Over the years we just got better and better and I sensed that it was beginning to make Takuma uneasy. During a particularly nasty battle where Akira and I ended up stranded inside a pitch dark cave with a bunch of blood thirsty cave people that could see in the dark, I performed the Soul Link jutsu on Akira and myself. After that, our power couldn't be matched by anyone, not even Takuma and he became increasingly paranoid. He began sending Akira off on terribly dangerous missions solo and his experiments on me became more and more sadistic. Procedures he used to perform after giving me an anesthetic he'd do without any pain medication at all. I think he was trying to prove that he was in control or something. Akira stumbled in on him during one of those experiments and attacked Takuma. He was locked in a cell after that I was forbidden to see him." She snickered. "As you all found out today, I don't really care to follow the rules so I went anyway. Akira told me that he'd found out where his sister was and that he wanted to run away with me and Ryuu. I agreed and we formed a plan. The day before our planned escape however, Akira was murdered in his cell." Tears dripped from her eyes at the memory.

"I kind of lost my spark after that. I locked away all of my feelings except for the affection I had for Ryuu and stopped living, I just existed. I did what I was asked and what was required to survive, nothing more or less." She sighed and touched a hand to her hair. "About a year and a half ago, I heard something that snapped me out of it."

"A soul song." Sia said glancing at her.

She nodded. "Exactly."

"What's a soul song?" Temari asked.

"It's something every living creature has." Onchou said with a sigh. "It's hard to explain but it's a pure, unalterable manifestation of someone's soul. I have the ability to hear it and translate it into a form that I can understand which is, song. It's a secret ability passed down in my clan. You can't hear it unless you have ears like mine." She said touching the point of her left ear. "Anyway, the Fourth Great Ninja War broke out and Takuma took Ryuu and I with him to observe it from a distance. During the course of the war, a stray shot flew from the battlefield and struck Takuma down. Ryuu and I took the chance to escape and we've been on the run ever since trying to get to this village to find out if my father is here and learn more about my past. I have a sinking suspicion that the fact that Takuma and I both have ties to this country isn't a coincidence."

"I see." Gaaara said touching his chin. "Do you have any proof that your father came from this Village?" he asked.

Onchou nodded and pointed to her sword. "Will you hand that to me?" she asked Naruto who was sitting closest to it.

"Yeah of course." He replied. "Here you go." He said handing the curved sword to her.

She flipped it over and pointed to a symbol carved into the silver handle. "This is the sword my father left with my mother promising to return for it and her. Look here. Isn't that this Village's symbol?"

Crow glanced at it and nodded. "That looks right to me." He replied.

"May I?" Gaara asked extending his hand to take the sword.

"Sure." The violet haired girl replied handing it to him. He pulled it from its sheath and examined the curved blade. "Interesting. Most ninja swords have straight blades but this one is curved." He said handling the sword carefully. "It's a unique design that allows the wielder to use as a midrange weapon as well as a close range weapon."

"How so?" Naruto asked examining the blade himself. Gaara took the sword and changed his grip on the handle and turned the sword so that the blunt edge of the sword was pressed against his forearm with the sharp curved edge facing out following the line of his arm to where it ended a few inches past is elbow.

"That's pretty interesting." Sasuke agreed. "I've never seen a sword like it."

"I have." Gaara replied.

Kankuro and Temari both nodded as well. "Same with us." The blonde said.

"You have?" Onchou replied her eyes wide. "Where?"

"This blade is something unique to the Buki clan who live here in the village." Gaara replied. "It is likely that your father was a member of that clan."

The girl's eyes widened and then softened. "I see. That's good news at least." She sighed as her head began to spin pressing her fingers to her temples.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked getting to her feet to check on her.

"I'll be fine." Onchou replied. "I think everything is just starting to get to me."

Sasuke snickered. "I can only imagine."

"We'll get out of your hair." Naruto said with a smile scooping the sleeping form of Ryuu into his arms. "I think everyone here is exhausted."

"You can say that again." Temari said stretching her neck.

"Don't you dare get out of this bed or else I'll strap you to it, got it?" Sakura said glaring at the amethyst eyed girl.

Onchou sighed. "Yes." Her eyes widened when the pink haired medic wrapped her arms around her.

"I'm so sorry for what you went through when you were younger." She said softly. "No one should have to suffer like that at a young age."

The violet eyed girl blinked and then touched the medic's back. "Thanks." She said softly.

"I'll be here in the morning to check on you." She assured her.

"Don't make it too early. You need to rest too." Onchou replied.

"Alright." Sakura replied. "Goodnight." She said following Naruto out the door with Sasuke by her side. Sai brought up the rear glancing at the violet haired girl one more time before he left.

"Goodnight." Kankuro said smiling at her. "Thanks again for saving me. I owe you one."

The amethyst eyed girl nodded. "Yeah. Ok then."

"Get some rest. Thanks for all you did for my brothers." Temari said following her older brother out the door.

The dark skinned girl's heart pounded as she realized she was alone with the Kazikage. "Thank you, for all you've done for me and my people." He said softly. "I'm very grateful."

"You're welcome Lord Gaara." She responded.

He smiled at her and Onchou felt her heart stumble in her chest. His smile was heartbreakingly beautiful. No wonder he had a bunch of twittering fan girls. "Please, call me Gaara." He said.

She nodded and then sighed. "You want to ask me don't you?" She said softly. "About what exactly happened during my time with Takuma. What missions he conducted and things like that. "

He sighed and nodded. "Please try to understand-."

She held up a hand to stop him. "No, it's ok. I do understand. You're a national leader and part of an international governing body. It's your responsibility, I get it." She sighed and raked her fingers through her hair. "I'm afraid of Takuma. What he's capable of, how much power he has. The fact that he wasn't on your radar until I showed up is even further proof of his power and skill." She sighed. "All I can do is keep running and hope he never catches up. I'm not stupid enough to think that I can take him down alone."

"You won't have to." Gaara replied. "You'll have the support and protection of friends."

She glanced over at the Kazikage studying his eyes for a moment before turning away. "I just don't know." She replied softly.

"I understand." He replied softly. "I'll come to you when you're feeling a bit better and ask again, is that alright?"

Onchou blinked and then nodded. "Yeah. That sounds good. Thank you."

He nodded. "Good night Onchou." He said softly.

"Good night Gaara." She replied.

A little smile touched the Kazikage's lips as she addressed him by his name before he left closing the door behind him.

Onchou groaned and laid back against the pillows of her hospital bed flinging her arm over her eyes. "What are you doing?" she demanded of herself. "You're not allowed to feel these things anymore remember? Let alone for someone like him, he's way out of the reach of a murderer like you." A little tear slipped from her eye. "That's right. I'm a murderer, how could I forget."

Gaara walked through the streets of Suna nodding to the few workers still out and about cleaning up the streets.

"Thank you for all of your hard work." He said to a crew working near the Kazikage's compound where he lived with his siblings.

"It's our honor Lord Kazikage." The young man said bowing to him. "You protected our village with your life. This is the least I can do."

The red haired shinobi shook his head. "I did very little. I do appreciate your gratitude though." He nodded to the young man before mounting the stairs of his home and walking inside. It was much grander on the inside than it appeared from the outside with artwork on the walls and fine leather furniture. He'd grown up in the house until his father had died but it wasn't until he moved in later with his siblings that it lost its chilliness though it still did feel a little empty. He sighed and walked into the kitchen opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water drinking deeply as he sensed another presence enter the room. "Brother." He said softly. "I thought you'd be asleep by now."

Crow chuckled. "Naw, I couldn't sleep knowing my little brother was still out and about. It's way past your curfew you know."

Gaara shook his head. "I'm not a child anymore."

"True, but you're still my little brother. I can't help but worry about you. Today you survived an assassination attempt so you'll forgive me for being a little more worried than normal right?" the sand shinobi said his back free of the pack that held his puppet and his hood down revealing his messy brown hair.

The Kazikage nodded and leaned back against the kitchen counter glancing at the ceiling as he thought about the violet haired girl he'd left at the hospital. His eyes widened as he remembered their battle in the forest of nightmares and he bent down removing his sandal a little smirk coming to his lips.

"What are you smirking at?" Crow asked walking over to investigate. "What is that from? I thought you got out of the fight completely unscathed?" he studied the bruise closer. "That looks almost like a heel mark. Did someone step on your foot?"

Gaara chuckled. "Not stepped on, stomped on." He replied.

"What? Who did?" Crow asked.

"That woman, the one that came with the leaf shinobi." He replied.

"Onchou right?" Crow replied. "Why did she do that?"

"She did it to free me from the control of a genjutsu cast by one of those responsible for the attack on our village." He said slipping his sandal back onto his foot. His brother studied him and the Kazikage's brow raised. "What is it?" he asked.

"I've never seen you like this." Crow admitted. "You seem very interested in that girl."

The Kazikage blinked in surprise and then nodded filling the now empty bottle of water and putting it back in the fridge. "I suppose you're right." He replied. "Her life story is tragic one yet she seems so compassionate. Her relationship with Ryuu intrigues me as well. He seems to be a jinchuritki like I was yet she doesn't show an ounce of fear. She cares for him with infinite tenderness." He bowed his head. "I guess I wish I'd had someone like her by my side as a child. Someone who wasn't afraid of me or thought of me as a weapon to give me the kind of affection and care she gives him. I'm sure that I would've been much happier that way." Crow nodded and looked away. Gaara knew his brother was feeling guilty but it wasn't his fault that he'd been treated the way he had. "I also wonder, if she was once like me." He said softly.

"What do you mean?" Crow asked.

"A child that was isolated, feared, and hated because of something she had no control over." Gaara replied glancing at his brother. "I just get the feeling that she's carrying a much larger burden than she's willing to reveal."

His older brother nodded. "That's always a possibility. So what are you going to do?" he asked.

"I want to find out more about her village and its history with ours. I'm also interested to see if she really has any connections to the Buki clan. If her father truly is among them, then I'll have to see about getting them reunited." He said.

Crow stared at his younger brother. "Do you want her to stay in the village?" he asked.

"It's much safer for her to be here than out there." Gaara replied simply before leaving the kitchen. "Sleep well brother." He called back. He walked up the stairs to the third floor where he slept and slipped out of his rust red jacket revealing a black tee shirt underneath. He unsnapped the brown belt at his hip and laid the gourd containing his sand on his bedside table and then sat down on his bed resting his forearms on his knees as his muscles throbbed with fatigue. He looked at his hands and remembered how the hands that had once killed complete strangers for looking at him the wrong way, had only hours ago protected his village and in particular a woman he barely knew. He'd even carried her from the battlefield. "Look at me now father." He said softly into the darkness. "I bet you never imagined that these hands would come to rescue a fair woman like that one." His eyes widened at his own words. Fair woman? His mind conjured her up in his mind and he studied her. Bronze colored skin, vivid amethyst colored eyes with flecks of green, blue, pink and violet scattered near the pupil, and waist length violet hair. She was slightly taller than the average woman standing just a couple inches shorter than himself with long, slender limbs and a narrow waist. He'd never seen another woman like her. "I must really be tired." He muttered shaking his head to dispel the image in his head. "Better sleep now before another disaster strikes." He said slipping out of his pants and under the covers of his bed too exhausted to bother changing into his sleeping clothes. As he gave himself over to sleep, Onchou's musical voice drifted into his mind. "The duty of the Queen is to protect the King not admire him." He smiled a little in spite of himself and drifted into a dream where he was fighting side by side with the strange girl with violet hair again.

Sakura groaned as the light from the window came streaming in hot and bright even through the curtains and tried to turn away from the offending source of discomfort. Realizing that it was only going to get worse she sighed and sat up looking at the clock. It was nine in the morning, she couldn't remember the last time she'd slept so late. With a little groan of frustration she stood up and staggered to the bathroom hoping a shower would clear her mind and blow away the cobwebs of tiredness. As she stood in the water her mind drifted to the events of the night before. The battle with Ember, getting hit by the landmine and how Saskue had held her begging her not to go where he couldn't follow. She blushed at the memory and smiled. She's never imagined that Sasuke would say such a thing to her. She stepped out of the water and wrapped a towel around herself as she remember how he'd carried her back to the village and how she'd mentioned that she almost felt like he loved her. Her mind then raced forward to when he'd trapped her against the wall angrily and then when she'd tried to run away, terrified that he'd reject her again, he'd pulled her back and kissed her. Sakura's eyes widened her finger tips going to her lips as she blushed darker than before. Sasuke Uchiha, the boy she'd loved since childhood had kissed her and then told her that she wasn't like any other girl, that she was special. The thought of it made her heart pound in her chest and her body tremble. A knock at the door made her jump.

"Sakura, is everything ok in there?" came Sai's voice.

She cursed herself for getting caught up in her memories and took a moment to steady her breathing before she answered. "Yeah, I'm fine Sai." She replied. "I'm a little slower with my feet still healing. I'll be out in a second." She replied quickly.

"Alright then." He said. "I'm going to pick up breakfast, do you have a preference?"

She thought for a moment as she started pulling on her clothes. "You know what I like Sai." She replied. "Get whatever you think is best."

"Very well. Be back soon." He said through the door.

Sakura sighed and pulled a brush through her blush colored locks and then stepped out of the bathroom. Scanning the room she found that Sai had indeed gone and that Naruto, Sasuke, and Ryuu were all still sleeping. She approached Ryuu and brushed his silver hair from his face noting tear stains on his cheeks and his hand that was wrapped tightly around what she recognized as one of Onchou's shirts. "You miss Onchou don't you?" she murmured. "I'm sorry." She move to check on Naruto next rolling her eyes as he muttered in his sleep about how he was going to beat Sasuke for sure. Finally she moved to Sasuke's bedside noting how he curled up on his side his arms tucked close to his chest. She knelt down beside him and rested her arms on the edge of the bed watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. She reached out and brushed his ebony spikes out of his face and smiled. He looked so beautiful while sleeping, the normally hard lines of his face were much softer and his lips were slightly parted. Her gaze focused on them blush coming to her cheeks again as she remembered the feel of them against her own. Without really thinking, she reached out with her fingertips towards them wondering how they felt against her fingers. Just before she touched them however his breathing changed and his eyes fluttered open. A little squeak of surprise escaped her lips and she started to fall backwards but he reached out and grabbed her by the wrist steadying her.

"It's not nice to spy on people while they're sleeping Sakura." He said softly.

Sakura blushed, not only at the sensation of his hand on her which seemed to electrify her more than usual but at how downright sexy his voice first thing in the morning with its little hint of roughness. She gulped and nearly glared at the lazy smirk he gave her as though he could her just how hard her heart was beating in her chest. "I wasn't spying." She replied. "I was just checking on you, that's all."

"Are you sure?" he replied pulling her closer to him until she was nearly on the bed herself. "I get the feeling you're not being honest with me." He said softly his eyes burning with something she'd seen for the first time last night when he'd kissed her hand in the desert and after he'd kissed her just inside the Village. He trailed his hand up to her face and ran his thumb over her lips and she felt her body tremble as heat leapt to life in her veins. A cocky smirk spread over his mouth as he pulled her closer. "Shall I make you tell me the truth?" he murmured gently tugging her head down towards his own. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes closed in anticipation.

"Damn it Sasuke!" A loud familiar voice cried out. "Get your hands off of her!"

The two jumped at the sound and Sakura scrambled off the bed and whirled towards the sound of Naruto's voice. Her hands balled into fists as the whiskered boy rolled over his eyes closed obviously still in the throes of a dream.

"Naruto!" she hissed in frustration as she staggered back until she hit the wall and slid down to the floor. "I swear, you're going to be the death of me." She groaned pressing her hand to her chest as her heart raced out of control.

"Not If I kill him first." Sasuke replied sitting up and running and hand through his hair. "That freaking idiot!" he looked over at Sakura and slipped out of bed kneeling in front of her reaching out to tap her in the middle of the forehead a gentle smile that she'd rarely seen on his face. "How are you feeling?" he asked moving back to examine her feet.

"Pretty good. They're a little sore but that's to be expected." She replied blushing as his big, calloused hands handled her feet with care sliding up to examine what was left of the burns on her calf.

"Good. I'm glad." He replied with a smile.

"I'm back!" Sai said coming nearly silently through the door with two bags in one hand a caddy filled with coffee cups in the others. His eyes widened and he blinked in surprise at the scene in front of him. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" he asked taking in their position. Sasuke kneeling in front of Sakura with her leg slightly bent as his fingers trailed up her leg.

Sakura's heart pounded in her chest her blush deepening at the question. "I was just checking her feet." Sasuke replied easily.

Sakura snorted. "Smooth as always." She muttered softly earning a low chuckle from the Uchiha.

"I smell food!" Naruto said rolling out of bed. "What did you get Sai?" he asked.

"Breakfast sandwiches. They seem to be popular here." The painter replied.

Ryuu stirred and sat up rubbing his eyes. "You guys are so loud." He whined as he slid to the floor stumbling slowly forward.

"Sorry about that." Sakura said getting to her feet with Sasuke's help. "Are you hungry?"

The boy nodded. "Is Onchou ok? I don't remember saying goodbye last night." He murmured as he shuffled to the table.

"She's resting in the hospital." Sakura replied. "We sort of had an emergency meeting last night in her hospital room and you fell asleep. She didn't want to wake you up so she had Naruto carry you here. I'm sorry."

"Oh ok." He replied. "I can see her today thought right?"

"Of course." Sakura replied as she sat down between the child and Sasuke.

"Good. I need to protect her." The child muttered.

"Protect her? From what?" Naruto asked as he picked up and egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich from the middle of the table.

"That guy with Raccoon eyes." Ryuu replied crossing his arms over his chest.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Lord Gaara? Why would you need to protect her from him?"

"Yeah, he saved her during the battle last night." Naruto said. "He even carried her back to the village."

"Exactly!" Ryuu exclaimed. "That stupid ginger thinks I'm too young to figure it out, but I'm on to him. He definitely has a thing for Onchou." He said his brow wrinkling.

Sasuke chuckled. "Lord Gaara and Onchou? There's no way."

Ryuu glared at the Uchiha. "I don't want to hear anything from you Scary Eyes!" he shoot back. "You're as dumb as a sack of rocks when it comes relationships. I might be young but I'm not stupid."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Listen you little brat…" he started.

"Boys, knock it off." Sakura said softly before she turned back to Ryuu. "I couldn't tell you about that, but I can tell you that Lord Gaara would never hurt Onchou so you don't need to worry about that."

The child opened his mouth to protest when a knock came at the door. Sai stood up quickly to answer it and Leo walked into the room.

"I'm sorry to disturb your breakfast." He said bowing slightly. "I just came to let Lady Sakura know that we were able to find the samples she was asking for."

"Really? That's great!" Sakura said smiling. "Thank you Leo. I really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure Lady Sakura." the tall sand ninja replied. "I heard that you fought alongside Lord Gaara to protect our village. You strength and bravery never cease to amaze me."

"Thanks." Sakura said with a little smile. "I was actually quite happy to help out."

"Of course." Leo replied with a smile. "I'll escort you to the hospital when you're ready."

"You don't have to." She said nervously. "Everyone here is going to follow me over there anyway since they want to check on Onchou."

"Onchou… The purple haired young woman? I heard she saved the lives of several of our shinobi including Lord Gaara." He said touching his chin.

"Yeah she did." Naruto replied. "She's back in the hospital now though. That's what happens when you break out early."

"Like you're one to talk." Sakura shot back. "How many times did I have to drag you back in myself because you couldn't sit still." She glanced at the palest shinobi among them her eyes narrowing slightly. "You're pretty bad too."

Sai laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I just wanted to help my friends that were in need."

She sighed. "You're all so reckless." She muttered. "Anyway, this stuff is all portable so we might as well head over now. If feel weird eating in front of people while they stand around." She admitted.

They arrived at the hospital minutes later and she quickly assessed Onchou's condition.

"You took those hits well." She remarked. "Not a single lasting injury should remain."

Onchou nodded. "If I hadn't been sure of that I wouldn't have taken them at all." She replied.

Sakura snickered. "I did that once too. It hurt like Hell but well worth it to get the element of surprise."

Sasuke, Naruto and Sai all stared at the pink haired medic and then at each other. "When was this?" Naruto asked. "I don't remember you doing something like that."

"Me either." Sasuke agreed. "Sai?"

The painter shook his head. "I never saw anything like that."

Sakura's eyes widened. She'd never told them about what had happened to her while she was defending Sasuke and Naruto from the sound ninja in the forest of death.

"It's not important." She replied quickly. "Anyway, I need to run some tests on Onchou now so you boys are going to have to leave."

"Hey! This conversation isn't over!" Naruto declared as she pushed him and Sasuke towards the door.

"Common! You too Ryuu." She said looking back at the silver haired boy. "Go hang out with the boys for a while."

He sighed and gave Onchou a hug. "You'll tell me right away if Raccoon eyes tries anything right?" he demanded.

The violet haired girl blinked in surprise and then nodded. "Sure. Whatever you say." She replied. "See you later."

"Boys, they can be so troublesome." Sakura muttered as she slammed the door closed behind them.

Onchou chuckled. "Oh yeah. They say we're the complicated ones, but that's not true. They're the ones that make it complicated."

Sakura grinned. "Exactly!" she walked over to the counter and set up a microscope. "I'm going to take a blood sample." She said picking up a syringe. "Hopefully I'll be able to find a way to get this Black Water garbage out of your system."

Sasuke, Sai and Naruto walked down the streets of Suna drawing a small crowd of women as they did. The dark haired former avenger cringed as a woman with red hair gave him a look that screamed "Come hither." And groaned. "Let's get off the streets. If one more of these girls mentally undresses me I'm going to teleport to the middle of the middle of the ocean and drown myself."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. They're really creeping me out." He admitted.

"Let's try there." Sai said pointing to a building that had the word Library printed on it.

"That works for me." Sasuke said picking up his pace. "Let's hurry."

The three ninja and their underage charge entered the building and Ryuu's eyes widened at the sight. "Wow! I've never seen so many books in one place before!" he exclaimed.

"Is this your first time in a library?" Sasuke asked.

The child nodded. "We weren't allowed out of the lab much and on missions we weren't allowed to come to places like this. Onchou said that she wanted to bring me to one but we hadn't gotten the chance to yet."

Naruto smiled at the boy. "Well today is your lucky day kid! Go ahead and check it out. We'll be waiting for you over here." He said motioning to round table and chairs.

"Thanks guys!" the child exclaimed dashing off into the book shelves his eyes wide with wonder.

"What a weird kid getting excited over a library." The Uzamaki remarked as he settled down in one of the chairs.

Sasuke took a set on his left and Sai sat on his right. "I really don't care. If he's this excited he won't want to leave for a while and then those stupid fan girls will leave us alone."

The other two nodded in agreement and visibly relaxed.

"So…" Naruto said after a few moments. "What's going on between you and Sakura?" he asked looking at the Uchiha.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked away irritated by the tinge of blush that came to his cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered.

"Oh common!" Naruto protested. "I know I'm dumb but I'm not blind! There is totally something different about you two today. Everything you did made Sakura blush and you smiled more this morning than I've ever seen you smile. Don't lie to me!"

Sai nodded. "I saw it too. You two seemed different after returning from the battlefield." He said. "Closer."

Sasuke growled. For once he wished that his best friend was a little less perceptive at least when it came to him. The blonde idiot had always been able to see right through him. He'd come to appreciate it and even be thankful to the strange talent of his best friend but in certain situations like the one he was in at the moment, it pissed him off. "What's it to you?" he replied.

"You two are my best friends." Naruto replied. "All I want is for you two to be happy."

The Uchiha groaned and lowered his head. "This conversation is useless." He muttered.

"They kissed." Sai said in a matter of fact tone.

Sasuke nearly fell off his chair in surprise and gaped at the painter. "How did you know?" he demanded.

Sai smiled at him. "I didn't actually. I just guessed."

The Uchiha gasped and then sighed mortified that he'd fallen for such an obvious trap. There was no going back now.

Naruto's eyes lit up and he leaned forward. "No way! Really?!" he exclaimed. He hooked his arm around the Uchiha's shoulders and rubbed the top of his head. "It's about damn time! I'm so proud of you!" he grinned widely and wiggled his brows. "How was it?" he asked. Sasuke wished that he could teleport right off the face of the planet as blush came to his cheeks. He shoved his whiskered friend off of him and gritted his teeth. "Common Sasuke don't be shy!" The Uzamaki insisted. "You can tell me." He said nudging his shoulder.

"Get off me you loser!" he demanded as the blonde reached for him again. Frustrated and irritated he scrambled to avoid his friend's arms. "It felt a Hell of a lot better than kissing you!" he spat out. His eyes widened at his own words and he fell face first onto the table his face bright red with embarrassment.

"Did you hear that?" Naruto said to Sai clearly trying to suppress his laughter.

"Go to Hell." Sasuke muttered. "This is why I hate being around you. You always make me say and do the stupidest things."

"I'm sorry. Really." The blonde said touching the Uchiha's back. "I'm actually really happy right now."

Sasuke raised his head noting the sincerity her heard in his friend's voice. He looked the blue eyed man in the eyes and was surprised to see a little moisture there. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Well, Sakura's loved you forever. Even when she was by my side I knew that she was thinking about you. Even on the day she told me she loved me I knew it wasn't true." He said studying the Uchiha. "When you cast that genjutsu on her I was afraid that there really was no hope for her and it hurt me because I knew that she'd never love anyone else but you." Sasuke blinked in surprise as the Uzamaki continued. "I was also worried for a long time that you were never going to let yourself be happy after everything happened. I mean, I worked so hard to save you because I wanted you to be happy but it seemed like you were determined to say gloomy forever." He smiled at the Uchiha. "The fact that you're finally returning her feelings and letting yourself do something that will make you happy is the best feeling in the world."

Sasuke's eyes widened and then relaxed again. "You're an idiot." He muttered looking down. "I don't deserve to have a friend like you or the love of a girl like Sakura."

"Well it sucks to be you then doesn't it because guess what? You're stuck with us!" the blonde exclaimed hooking his arm around the Uchiha's neck. "Now then, out of respect for our brotherly bond…" he said grinning at Sasuke. "You have to tell us everything in great detail."

"I really will kill you." The Uchiha hissed knowing full well that whether he liked it or not, Naruto wasn't going to let him leave without hearing everything. A thought occurred to him and he suddenly smirked. "Alright, if you insist but I wonder what Sakura will say when she finds out you forced me to tell you everything."

The Uzamaki's eyes widened and sweat began to bead on his forehead at the mention of the medic. "On second thought, we don't need to know. I'll take your word for it." He stammered.

"Thank you for healing my feet." Sakura said as she worked analyzing the blood samples she'd taken from Onchou.

"Don't mention it." The violet haired girl replied. "I was happy to do it." After few moments Onchou spoke again. "Something good happened between you and the Uchiha last night didn't it?"

Sakura jumped and nearly dropped the vial in her hand as he cheeks colored. "What do you mean?" she stammered.

The bed ridden girl laughed. "That reaction right there is proof enough even if I didn't already know." Sakura looked at the girl who smiled and tapped her ears. "I can hear things others can't remember?" she said. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm actually quite happy for you. Finally receiving the affection of someone you've loved for most of your life must be a wonderful feeling."

Sakura blushed and smiled. "It is." She replied softly. "I was afraid for a long time that he'd never feel that way about me or that if he did, he'd never do anything about it because he was so wrapped up in atoning for his mistakes. The fact that he's finally letting me make me feel like all of that time spent waiting wasn't a waste makes me very happy." She said tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I don't think loving anyone is ever a waste." Onchou said looking out her window. "Even if they never return your feelings, love is a much better feeling than hate, jealousy or bitterness."

"That's true." Sakura said observing the girl. "So, is there someone you love like that?" she asked.

The amethyst eyed girl shook her head. "Not anymore." She said softly.

"Akira?" Sakura offered.

Onchou nodded. "Yeah. I still have trouble dealing with the fact that he's gone forever." She said softly.

"Tell me about him." Sakura said.

The violet haired girl blinked in surprise and then smiled. "Akira was a gentle soul who experienced a lot of hardship. He was a prodigy in the ninja arts but his parents refused to let him join the ninja corps because his father was injured during a mission once and never fully recovered."

"That's kind of a silly reason." Sakura said. "That's part of being a ninja. If Akira was willing to accept that, then his parents should've supported him."

Onchou nodded. "I agree." She replied.

Sakura worked in silence for a few minutes and then spoke again. "So what did Akira look like?"

The amethyst eyed girl thought for a moment. "He was a little taller than average with a thin build, long brown hair and amber colored eyes." She responded smiling a little. "He actually looked quiet plain but that never really mattered to me."

The pink haired medic smiled, nodded and jotted down a few notes. "So what do you think of the Kazikage?" she asked.

The violet haired girl's eyes widened and a little blush tinged her cheeks. "That was a pretty sudden change in topic." She muttered. Sakura chuckled noting the blush as she changed out the slides on her microscope. "I think that he's a very capable leader and powerful ninja." Onchou replied after a minute. "He's strong and it's clear that he's beloved by his people."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. He's come a long way." She said. "When I first met him he was much different. He nearly killed Naruto, Sasuke, and I."

Onchou's eyes widened. "Did he now?" she chuckled. "So that explains it, the subtle dark undertones in his song, that must be left over from his childhood." Her eyes focused on Sakura again. "What happened to change him?" she asked.

The pink haired medic smiled. "Naruto and Gaara were both hosts to tailed beasts at the time. They'd both been treated pretty harshly because of it. They fought head to head and Naruto managed to defeat him and told him that he knew exactly how he felt and that he was his friend. Something about that changed Gaara and he decided to change the direction in which his life was headed."

The amethyst eyed girl smiled. "That Naruto, it seems he's full of surprises."

Saukra nodded. "He is." She turned back to her patient. "Anyway, about Lord Gaara, Ryuu seems to believe he has a thing for you."

Onchou chuckled. "Does he now? That little trouble maker." She looked down. "Even if that were true, there's no way I'm suitable for someone like him."

"Isn't that his decision to make?" The medic offered gently.

The bronze skinned girl sighed. "I suppose." She said glancing out the window. "Even so, I'm not sure if I dare walk that path again. It's brought me nothing but ruin in the past."

Sakura sighed. "You sound like Sasuke. Refusing to let yourself be happy over the past."

The violet haried girl blanched. "Ugh! You just had to go and compare me to that idiot." She muttered.

The pink haired woman chuckled. "Yup. Anyway, from what I can see here, the Black Water they have here is the same Black Water in your blood stream. A couple more chemical tests being run by the lab downstairs will confirm that. If the results come back good I'll be able to work on a method to draw it out of your body."

Onchou nodded. "Thank you so much. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." Sakura replied gathering her things. "Is there something I can get for you?"

The girl shook her head. "I'm fine for now. I'll just watch TV for now. When you come back later though, I wouldn't mind if you brought me a book to read."

"No problem. Do you have a preference?" she asked.

The amethyst eyed girl shook her head. "Not really. I haven't read for pleasure in so long I'll be happy with anything."

Sakura nodded. "Ok, sounds good. See you later!"

Three days later, Onchou had a request for the pink haired medic when she arrived to check up on her.

"You want to train?" she repeated surprised by the request. "I don't know. Your body has healed up pretty well but I'm still not satisfied with the state of your chakra network."

"Please! I promise not to overdo it." Onchou said her eyes wide with panic.

Sakura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If I say no you'll just go anyway." She muttered. "Fine. I'll see if the training grounds are open. Give me a couple minutes."

An hour later the leaf shinobi accompanied by Gaara, Temari and Kankuro arrived at the training grounds.

"Was it really necessary for all of you to come?" Onchou muttered.

"Of course. I have to make sure you don't overexert yourself and the others decided that they wanted to train as well." Sakura replied. "Lord Gaara, Temari and Kankuro came to supervise."

"We don't need a babysitter." Ryuu grumbled glaring at the red haired man.

"Just bear with it." Onchou said touching the child gently. "We do need his permission to use the grounds after all."

"Whatever!" he hissed.

They arrived at the large stadium where they had decided to train and Ryuu's mood lifted. "Wow! Look at all that space! Takuma's training grounds were tiny compared to this."

"Yes they were." The violet haired girl agreed as they made their way to the open arena. "Ryuu, will you spar with me?" she asked.

The boy's eyes widened a smile coming to his lips. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "Am I allowed to go all out?" he asked.

She chuckled. "No Ryuu, there are others who use these grounds too but it's ok for you to push yourself a bit harder than usual."

The silver haired boy grinned. "I can totally do that!" he exclaimed leaping down onto the arena floor.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked Onchou as she followed the child. "I mean, one of us can spar you instead."

Onchou laughed. "Don't underestimate us." She replied with a smile. "I do my best to keep Ryuu out of battle but it's not because he isn't capable, it's because I want him to enjoy being a child as must as possible. Trust me, he's not an easy opponent by any means."

She took the field and faced down Ryuu who grinned at her his leg bouncing slightly in anticipation. "Remember, others have to use this field too." She said as she shifted into a defensive position.

"Ready!" Naruto called out. "Begin!"

Sakura watched her eyes wide as the two clashed using kunai and shuriken. They each dodged one another's attacks with ease and landed on the ground on opposite sides of the field. Ryuu flashed across the space and threw a punch at Onchou who easily dodged the blow and swept her leg out to take out the boy's legs. He jumped to avoid her attack and aimed an elbow driven blow at the back of her head. She reached up and grabbed his arm and directed his blow away from her body but wasn't able to pin him as he pulled out of her grasp. They came at each other again and again neither one landing blow until one of Ryuu's punches connected with Onchou's chest and sent her flying back. The child however looked irritated.

"You let me hit you." He said glaring at his opponent. "Why?"

"I just figured that you were getting sick of tajutsu." She replied getting to her feet. "Was I wrong?"

He grinned at her. "Nope. You were right." He replied. "If you think that my attacks are going to be weaker because of this heat, you're wrong." He warned her.

She smiled back. "Prove it." She challenged.

He formed hand signs and then smiled. "Water style, water slicer!" he exclaimed swiping his hands forward. Blades of water exploded from his hands and Onchou quickly flipped into the air to avoid the attacks.

She smirked and formed hand signs of her own. "Wind style Divine wind!" she exclaimed knocking the water blades back with small wind twisters. She landed on the ground and then placed her hands on her hips. "I thought you said you were going to go bigger?"

He glared at her. "I was just testing things." He assured her forming more sighs. "Now eat this! Water Style! Water Dragon Jutsu!" he exclaimed.

"That child must have an incredible amount of chakra to create a water dragon that large in a place this dry." Temari remarked as the beast that was as wide and as tall as an average maple tree growled and slinked forward.

"That's more like it!" Onchou replied as she sprinted across the field away from the water creature. After a few minutes of playing cat and mouse she finally reduced the dragon to a puddle using a lightning attack.

The boy immediately began forming more seals and the violet haired girl studied him. "Are you sure?" she said. "You don't need to push yourself in this heat."

"I can do this!" Ryuu exclaimed his eyes closing in concentration. "I have to be able to do this in any environment!"

"What is he talking about?" Sakura asked Sasuke. "What jutsu is he using?"

"I don't know." The Uchiha admitted. "I don't recognize it."

Ryuu's eyes flew open as he stared down his opponent his brow creased in effort. "Ninja art Ice man jutus!" he exclaimed slamming his hands onto the ground. A seven foot tall man holding an ax made entirely of ice sprung from the ground.

"What the heck!" Naruto exclaimed. "I haven't seen Ice anything since Haku!"

"It's incredible considering how hot and dry the air is here." Sai murmured.

"He's much stronger than we gave him credit for." Sakura agreed.

"Nice!" Onchou exclaimed. "He's a bit on the short side but still!"

"That's short?" Temari remarked.

"I wonder what the full sized one looks like." Crow mused.

Ryuu grinned. "Yeah! So what if he's short! He'll still kick your butt!" he exclaimed spurring the ice person onward.

The amethyst eyed girl smirked and began to run dodging the swipes the giant took at her with his ax. The child growled in frustration and formed more signs. "Ninja art! Icicle Barrage Jutsu!" he exclaimed jumping into the air and swiping his hand forward. Sharp six inch long spikes of ice rained down from the sky aimed at the dark skinned girl.

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she formed signs. "Fire style! Phoenix wing jutsu!" she exclaimed jumping into the air. Two long streams of fire burst from her shoulders and extended down the length of both of her arms forming what looked like feathers made of flames. She flapped her arms forward reducing the icicles and soldier to puddles of water.

Ryuu groaned and fell to his knees breathing hard. "Ugh! It's too hot!" he grumbled. "You win."

The girl landed on the ground and walked forward extending her hand to the boy. "You did great!" she exclaimed. "Really! I can't believe you were able to make that much ice here especially without drawing water from anywhere."

The child smiled and blushed. "Thanks Onchou."

"That was incredible!" Naruto said as the pair mounted the stairs to join the others that were sitting down. He bounded forward and wrapped his arm around Ryuu's neck. "I've never seen anything like that."

Ryuu beamed and then smirked at the Uchiha. "Beat that Scary Eyes!"

Sasuke chuckled. "That was a pretty neat trick kid, I'll give you that much." He admitted. He turned to Onchou. "That fire jutsu of yours was pretty interesting. I've never seen it before."

She smiled. "I'd ask if you want to add it to you collection but I already know that you've memorized it."

He smiled and nodded. "What can I say? It's a habit I picked up from my old sensei. He was known as the copy ninja after all."

"Alright guys! Our turn!" Naruto said leaping onto the practice field. "Let's do teams. Me and Sai against Sakura and Sasuke."

"Why is it that you never team up with Sasuke during training?" Sai asked the Uzamaki.

"Two reasons." Naruto replied. "The first is that there isn't anyone that can beat us when we team up. It just isn't fair to the team that has to fight against us. The second is, the fact that he's still my rival and I will beat him one day!" he exclaimed. "You hear that Sasuke!? I'm totally going to take you down this time!"

"Keep dreaming loser!" Sasuke replied. "You'll never beat me!"

Onchou watched from where she was seated next to Ryuu studying the field closely as the four leaf shinobi began their match. After a few moments, she spoke. "Naruto and Sasuke are really evenly matched." She said observing as Naruto created a rasingan to counter one of Sasuke's fireballs. "Sasuke's movements are much smoother and precise but Naruto makes up for that using his speed and taking risks. Their instincts when it comes to battle are unlike anything I've witnessed."

Gaara glanced over at her and nodded. "It's true. They are truly gifted in the ninja arts."

"Sakura seems to be the best at hand to hand combat out of the group." She remarked as she watched the pink haired ninja slam her fist into the ground in front of Sai. "She also has the greatest amount of chakra control. I suppose that's to be expected from one bearing the strength of 100's seal." Her attention drifted to Sai who had conjured an ink bird and was rising into the sky. "Sai is very talented at long range combat. I imagine that he is or was at one point a very effective assassin."

"You can tell that just from watching?" Crow remarked from where he sat opposite Gaara.

"Not exactly." She replied. "I can tell by listening. Sai was trained differently from the other three and it shows. He briefly hesitates before each attack because he has to remind himself that he's not fighting to kill." She glanced at Sasuke. "He's similar but because of his visual prowess and because he received his original foundational training from pacifist ninja, it's much easier for him to push himself without harming his opponent."

"Interesting. There are some that believe Sasuke Uchiha is a blood thirsty monster just waiting for the right opportunity to strike." Crow remarked.

Onchou shook her head. "That's not true at all." She replied. "The only darkness in his heart that's left is the hatred he feels towards himself for all of the pain and suffering he caused. Even that is slowly beginning to fade." She smiled. "How could it not with Naruto's light to guide him and Sakura's warmth the heal him?"

Gaara nodded. "That man's light is definitely a potent one."

She glanced at him. "It sounds like you're speaking from experience."

The Kazikage nodded. "He taught me that I can choose my own path and that I don't have to be bound by my past or what people think of me."

She smiled at him and then turned her attention back to the arena just as Naruto unleashed his reverse harem jutsu on Sakura. Her eyes widened and her jaw nearly hit the floor. "What kind of jutsu is that?!" she demanded blushing.

Gaara sighed. "Naruto Uzamaki is a one of a kind Ninja." He muttered shaking his head.

Onchou sighed and smacked her palm to her forehead. "You can say that again." She muttered. "It seems that Naruto and Sai have won this round."

"Hell yeah! We totally beat them!" Naruto exclaimed dashing towards the stands.

"Shut up idiot!" Sasuke shot back. "I could've creamed you if I'd used my Susano!"

"Yeah right! You're just being a sore loser." The Uzamaki replied.

Onchou laughed at the exchange. "Who needs entertainment when you have these two around." She glanced at Sakura and Sai who were groaning as they dragged themselves up the stairs. "You two need help?" she asked.

"No. We'll be fine." Sakura assured here. "It's one of the side effects with sparing with those two."

"I think that sparring with Lee is more tiring." Sai countered.

The pink haired medic snorted. "You can say that again. I have to dodge his love attacks as well as his punches and don't even get me started on the time he showed up to our sparing match drunk. I thought I was a goner."

Naruto laughed. "I remember that one! Kakashi had to rush in and save your butt!"

"Hey buddy! You were right there the entire time! What was wrong with you huh!?" she demanded.

"He couldn't help you because he was laughing too hard." Sai replied.

The pink haired medic bowed her head. "So you saw it too Sai?"

The group laughed and Naruto shrugged sheepishly. And then shook out his blonde spikes. "Anyway!" he exclaimed. "I just remembered something." He turned to Onchou. "Didn't you say that you could fight with your eyes closed?"

The violet haired girl blinked in surprise and then nodded. "Yeah. What of it?"

"I've never seen it in action." He replied. "I'm curious."

She sighed. "You know what curiosity did right?" she muttered.

"Oh common! It'll be fine!" he urged. "I know I'm not that only one that wants to see."

"Even so, who am I supposed to fight?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.

The Uzamaki touched his chin for a moment and then grinned. "I know! How about you fight Gaara?"

Onchou's eyes widened. "Gaara?" she exclaimed looking at the Kazikage "Are you serious?"

"Why not? Who better to test your skills?" he asked.

"Someone much less important maybe?" She replied crossing her legs.

"Just do it!" Naruto encouraged. "We'll just do a quick one tap round, the first one to land a blow on their opponent wins."

"I really don't think this is a good idea." She muttered. "I'll fight you instead."

"I don't mind." Gaara said.

Onchou groaned. "Fine! Whatever! I need to get rid of a little more chakra anyway."

"Perfect!" Naurto exclaimed pushing the pair down onto the field. "Here!" he said wrapping bandages around her eyes. "Can you see?"

The violet eyed girl sighed. "No I can't."

"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Just wait for my signal."

"Ok. Give me at least a minute to get ready though." She said as he walked away. She rested her hands in front of her face and focused her chakra. "Ok, let's do this."

"I'll go easy on you." Gaara assured her.

"Oh there's no need for that." She replied. Her eyes closed and she activated her power. The tattoos on her ears turned from black to silver and then silver to gold. As she focused her hearing and her chakra her mind was able to translate the sounds into a picture inside her head even clearer than they normally appeared with her eyes opened. She heard every breath her red head opponent took, the muscles clenching and releasing as he shifted his feet. His wind and earth chakra simmered close to the surface white and brown as he prepared to attack with his sand.

She moved one moment before he did back flipping away from the blast and then skidding to a stop outside the sand stream. The Kazikage moved his fingers and she slammed her hand to the ground. "Earth Style! Stone column jutsu!" she exclaimed. The stone shot into the air taking her with it blocking the sand. He moved quickly aiming the sand at her swirling it up the column. Using a push of her wind chakra she launched into the air and then directed herself downward quickly narrowly missing the sand shot. She threw a kunai at him testing his defenses and smirked as his sand moved and hardened without conscious effort on his part. "Not bad." She muttered. She listened carefully as the sand moved around him, she noted a small spot where the sand was thinner. "One hit is all I need!" she muttered. Knowing that his sand reacted automatically to create his defense, she focused her lightning chakra letting it take over her body completely. "I've got one shot at this." She muttered. With a push of her chakra she turned her body into lightning itself and struck forward rematerializing in front of the startled Kazikage. The sand barrier formed around both of them even as she knocked him onto his back. "I win." She said softly her voice more muffled that she thought it would be.

Gaara said nothing and she noted heat rising to his cheeks and his increased heartrate. Frowning slightly she released the power on her ears and immediately became aware that her mouth was touching something warm and soft. Her eyes flew open adjusting to the dim light filtering through the cracks in the sand shield and found herself nose to nose with the Kazikage her mouth pressed to his.

"Kyaa!" she exclaimed flying back against the sand wall blush staining her cheeks. "I am so sorry!" she exclaimed mortified by her actions. "When I use my ears like that it dulls all of my other senses especially my sense of touch. Ugh!" she groaned clutching her hair.

"I understand." He replied. "You don't have to apologize."

"Yes I do." She muttered. "That was your first kiss wasn't it?"

Gaara's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"I just did." She groaned. "It was mine too but still."

"Let's return to the others." He said simply as the sand loosened around them swirling back into the gourd.

The observers of the fight were flabbergasted as they watched Onchou turn her body to lightning and disappeared into Gaara's ultimate defense.

"Wow! She's good!" Crow exclaimed.

"She actually made it in there before Gaara's defense took effect." Temari exclaimed.

"I think that makes her the winner but I wonder why they're not coming out?" Naruto asked.

"I wish I had a way to see through that sand right now." Sakura admitted.

Sasuke chuckled and then glanced at Ryuu. "I have a question." He said.

"What do you want Scary Eyes." Ryuu responded glaring at the sand barrier.

"Brat!" he hissed. "Anyway, why did Onchou want to train so badly?" he asked.

"Oh that." He replied his hand twitching as water flowed around it. "She has trouble controlling her chakra sometimes. If she goes too long without using chakra or uses too much she becomes unstable. Training gets rid of her excess chakra so she doesn't lose control."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's it!" she exclaimed. "That's how she's survived for so long with Black Water in her system!" she said as Gaara's barrier fell. They watched as the two ninja emerged.

"Wait! Look at that!" Temari exclaimed. "Gaara! He's-!"

"He's blushing!" Crow finished his mouth agape. "What happened in there?"

Naruto chuckled. "I have no idea, but I can't wait to find out."

Onchou quickly leapt to the stands. "I won that round." She replied simply. "Do you believe me now Naruto?" she asked.

"Yeah! That was awesome!" the Uzamaki exclaimed.

"Onchou! We need to get you back to the hospital!" Sakura exclaimed.

"What? Why? I feel fine." The violet haired teen replied confused.

"Just listen to me!" the medic exclaimed grabbing a needle from her bag and plunging it into the girl's arm drawing a blood sample.

"Ok! Ok!" the amethyst eyed girl muttered. "I'm coming." She turned to Temari. "Please tell your brother that I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean to… surprise him like that."

"Ok… but what happened?" the blonde asked.

"I don't want to talk about it.' She muttered blush tinging her cheeks.

"Let's go!" Sakura demanded grabbing the girl by the wrist and dragging her out of the arena.

"What's up with that?" Naruto wondered aloud. "Hey Gaara! What happened?" he demanded.

The Kazikage sat down next to his brother and sighed. "I was defeated." He said simply.

"We can see that, but it doesn't explain the blush on your cheeks." The puppet master countered.

"I don't think it's something that needs to be discussed at the moment. Where did she go anyway?" The Kazikage asked.

"Sakura took her back to the hospital. Something about needing to run a test." Sasuke replied.

"I see. I'll have to talk with her later." Gaara replied. "Anyway, I have work to do so I'll take my leave now. Thank you for spending time with me." He said rising from his seat.

"Any time!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

That evening, Sasuke arrived at the hospital intent on dragging his pink haired teammate out of the lab she'd shut herself in since Onchou's fight with Gaara.

"If you won't come quietly, I'll throw you over my shoulder and drag you out." He threatened crossing his arms over his chest.

Sakura sighed in defeat and bowed her head. "Fine! You win but I'm coming back first thing tomorrow." She insisted.

"What happened to get you all fired up?" he asked her as they left the hospital. Sakura pulled him away from the path leading to their hotel and instead followed the path that led to a park.

"When Ryuu said that Onchou needed to train to moderate her internal chakra levels I realized that, that was how she was surviving with the Black Water in her system. She's found an equilibrium and works to maintain it at all times to counter act the damaging effects of the drub." She explained. "I'm hoping that her blood work will be able to give me a hint as to how to draw it out of her body." She said sitting down on a stone bench.

"I see. That does make a lot of sense." Sasuke said sitting beside her. "She's pretty incredible. Losing everyone she cared about, being taken in by a mad scientist. It's hard to believe she didn't turn out like me." He admitted.

Sakura sighed and swung her feet trailing her toes against the sandy dirt before she spoke. "I'm not surprised." She replied. "Onchou and you might have similar circumstances but they're different enough that there's no way she'd end up like you."

"How so?" he asked.

"Well for starters, it wasn't someone close to her that destroyed her village. It was a bunch of strangers. That's not nearly as painful." She explained. "She was also forced against her will to follow Takuma."

"That's true." He admitted his thoughts drifting to his late brother. "Even so it would've been so easy for her to give into the darkness, so why didn't she?"

"That's easy." Sakura replied. "She had Ryuu's warmth and Akira's light to protect her heart." She explained.

Sasuke's eyes widened and then he chuckled. "I guess that's right. I purposely left my light and warmth behind didn't I?"

The pink haired medic reached out and grabbed his hand threading her fingers through his as though she could sense the guild rising within him. "You did, but you had your reasons." She said softly leaning her head against his shoulder.

The Uchiha couldn't deny how comfortable it felt to have her near him, having her touch him. Her warmth, her love truly was a gift he didn't deserve. "Sakura." He said softly. "Did you know that the night I left the village, I didn't leave right away after knocking you out?"

The rose haired girl glanced up at him. "I didn't." she replied.

He sighed. "I laid you on that bench and sat with you for a while debating on whether I could bring you with me or not. I knew that unlike Naruto you wouldn't try dragging me back to the village right way." He bowed looked down at their linked hands and lightly stroked the top of her hand with his free hand. "In the end I didn't because I knew that not only would you keep the darkness away but I was afraid of what Orochimaru, Kabuto and the others would do to you. I didn't care about what happened to me as long as I had the power I wanted but I didn't want you to be hurt or killed over me."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Sasuke." She murmured.

"I really regret being away for so long." He said softly. "I was so selfish and cruel to you." He sighed. "I want to thank you, for everything. For loving me, for believing in me, for never giving up on me and chasing me all over the world with that blonde haired idiot." He looked down at her his heart pounding in his chest as she lifted her face to look at him. "I don't know where I'd be without you." His gaze fell to her lips and his breath hitched in his throat as he leaned towards her. "Sakura." He breathed just before he closed his eyes and closed the distance between them. It was as sweet, unhurried, chaste press of lips that had him sighing contentedly. After a moment he changed the angle ever so slightly to suck softly on her lower lip. She sighed in response and slid her arms around his neck as his own wrapped around her waist. "Sakura, I love you. I can't say it out loud yet but please, let my feelings reach you." He thought as he moved his lips against hers slightly igniting flames in his belly. His grip on her tightened at the sensation and he softly swept his tongue out to trace her bottom lip. He heard her little gasp of surprise and his eyes opened meeting hers. The heat in her gaze changed the flames to bolts of lightning and he knew that they needed to stop at least for the moment. He broke the kiss and laid his forehead against hers steadying his breathing as he took in the blush on her cheeks and the sight of her lips a little darker and a little swollen from his ministrations. "We should probably get back before that blonde knucklehead comes looking for us." He said standing up and extending a hand to his pink haired companion.

"You're right." Sakura said taking his hand.

He threaded his fingers through hers and held her hand tightly as they navigated the darkening streets heading back to their hotel. He was happy, truly happy and he knew she was too by the way she held herself, the little smile on her lips and the light blush on her cheeks. An annoying sound broke the spell and he cringed.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" a sand shinobi called out bounding forward. She seemed to be around Onchou's age with shoulder length orange hair and green eyes. "It's such an honor to meet you!" she exclaimed. "Are you free right now?"

"I'm not." He replied. "I'm actually on my way back to my hotel."

"That's ok! Can my friends and I come with you?" she asked motioning for a couple of others girls to walk forward. "We won't be any trouble."

Sakura tensed at his side and he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I'm sorry but that just isn't possible. I'm not staying alone. My companions wouldn't appreciate all of the extra people in the room."

"Please!" the girls whined.

"He said no." Sakura replied quietly.

The girls were startled by her voice and glanced at the pink haired ninja. "Wait? Who is this? Is she your girlfriend or something?" the orange haired girl demanded.

Sasuke smiled. "As a matter of fact, she is." He said releasing her hand to slip his arm around her shoulders. "She's also the jealous type and has monstrous strength."

"Hey!" Sakura protested but he silenced her with his mouth.

"You get the picture right?" he said grinning at Sakura's blush.

"Right…" the orange haired girl stammered. "Let's go."

"What the Hell was that all about?!" Sakura demanded as he pulled her towards their hotel.

"I was just getting rid of some annoying flies." He responded as he entered the lobby and led the way to the elevator.

"Well yeah but you didn't have to drag me into that mess!" Sakura protested as the door opened and he pulled her inside quickly pushing the button for their floor.

"Don't pretend you didn't like it." He said trapping her against the wall. He leaned down and skimmed his nose up her neck smirking at the goosebumps that covered her skin at the motion. "I thought you wanted to be mine." He whispered planting a chaste kiss just below her ear.

"I do." Sakura murmured softly.

"Then get used to it." He replied softly pressing his lips to hers once again.

The door opened and the two pulled apart just in time to catch a glimpse of Naruto staring at them. He grinned wickedly and the two shinobi groaned. "I caught you!" the Uzamaki exclaimed.

"That's what's going to take getting used to." Sakura muttered as they left the elevator and listened to the reincarnated brothers go at each other in the hallway.


	15. Chapter 15

Authour's note: Crow and Kankuro are the same person. I just got sick of seeing it highlighted red in my draft. I can change it if it bothers anyone, it's just easier for me. Anyway, thanks for everything! I'm glad you're all enjoying it. Thank you especially to all my reviewers. It's so helpful to have your feedback and I do my best and answer questions and respond to requests. I apologize in advanced for any name misspellings. In this chapter the song Onchou sings is "Closer" by Joe Inoue the English version. I own nothing except for Onchou, Ryuu, the plot and that creep Takuma unfortunately. Anyway, back to the story.

Gaara sighed as his brush glided over the scroll in front of him. Paperwork was easily the most tedious part of his job. He'd held the position since he was fifteen so it definitely came easier than it once had but it was still a bunch of busy work to him. He sensed a presence nearing his door and heard a faint knock. "Come in." he called. As he glanced up he was surprised to see a young woman with blonde hair. He vaguely remembered her as one of the woman Onchou had protected during their skirmish with Takuma's assassins. The thought of the violet haired girl made his heart race and blush come to his cheeks stilling his brush. Though he'd tried to, he couldn't forget the sensation of her soft lips against his own. Shaking his head to push the thoughts away he worked to focus his attention on the woman in front of him. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Lord Kazikage, I just wanted to apologize for what happened on the battlefield a week ago." She said softly bowing. "I should have paid better attention to my surroundings."

He blinked and then nodded. "It's alright. I'm glad that you were unharmed." He replied.

The girl nodded. "I was wondering, do you know how that girl is doing? The one that save me and my partner?"

Gaara nodded. "Yes. She is due to be released from the hospital any day now." He replied.

"I see. When she is released will you let her know that I'd like to speak with her? I want to thank her properly for what she did." The girl said looking down.

"I'll let her know." He replied.

The girl bowed and then left the room closing the door behind her. He set his brush down and leaned back in his chair taking a deep breath. He wasn't nearly as oblivious as everyone seemed to think he was. He was well aware that many of the young women in his village found him attractive however he didn't really take any of them seriously. After all, they'd run in fear from him as a child and he just couldn't bring himself to trust them in that way. Another knock at the door surprised him and he opened his eyes. "Come in." he called out.

"Hey there Gaara." Kankuro said as he walked inside carrying a bag of food. "You haven't eaten anything today yet have you?"

The red head nodded. "I guess not. I haven't really had time to think about it." He admitted as he took the bottle of juice and pastry his brother offered him.

"Have you made any progress on finding out information on Heiwa?" Kurou asked as he came up to stand behind his brother glancing over the paperwork on his desk.

Gaara nodded and handed his brother a leather bound book with a few documents tucked inside of it. "It was a small village located near the shore line. It was a village shrouded with mystery even then." He said as his brother opened the book. "Our records indicated that just over sixteen years ago they were attacked by rouge ninja and father dispatched three four man teams to assist them. There were a total of two members of the Buki clan among the ninja sent."

"I see. So that corroborates her story." The puppet master said as he thumbed through the documents.

Gaara nodded. "In addition, it appears that five years after that incident, the village was attacked again. However our forces did not arrive in time. The ninja dispatched described the scene as horrifying and reported that there were no survivors. It seems that they were mistaken however."

Kankuro cringed as he read over the case files. "Were the orchestrators behind the attacks ever found?"

The Kazikage shook his head. "The village was a complete loss and so it was written off as a tragedy and failing on our part and never talked about again. I couldn't even get much information out of the elders about the incident."

The puppet master sighed. "Well I'm not surprised. I still don't like most of those geezers anyway."

"Still holding a grudge?" Gaara asked glancing at his brother. He'd heard that when he'd been captured by the Atkusuki years ago that the elders had been reluctant to send men to his aid leaving the leaf ninja, his friends really, to save him. He didn't hold it against them, but he knew that it still bothered both of his siblings greatly.

The hooded ninja shrugged and looked at the roster of ninja from the incident. "Let's see here." He muttered glancing at the names. "I couldn't have been Yori Buki. According to the roster he was only thirteen at the time of the first incident." He frowned. "That leaves only Tamiki Buki, he was nineteen at the time." He frowned. "If I remember right, he was a missing ninja up until just a couple years ago. Isn't he still under house arrest?"

The Kazikage nodded. "That's right. He was also on the squad that went to help with the second incident. The report claims that he scoured the entire village for days on end without rest and after three days went mad and vanished into the desert."

Crow touched his hand to his chin. "If he really was Onchou's father, it would make sense. He was looking for the body of his former lover and lost his mind after being unable to find part of her or after finding something or someone that made him think she'd died."

Gaara nodded again. "My thoughts exactly."

"So what are you going to do?" The dark clothed ninja asked.

"I do not know. I want to question him but I don't really know it it's my place." He looked at his brother. "I also need to talk to Onchou. Now that she's about to be released from the hospital I can't put it off any longer. I need to find out what she knows about Takuma and his organization and present it to at least the Hokage." He glanced out the window in the direction of the Hospital. "I don't know what will happen after that."

"What do you think should happen?" The puppeteer asked.

Gaara's brow knit together slightly. "It's clear to me and everyone around her that she is a powerful shinobi. In addition, it appears that she has no one left in this world except for Ryuu and perhaps her father." He closed his eyes. "Heiwa was under our village's protection and we failed in that regard, that and the fact that she may be the member of the distinguished Buki clan of our village leads me to believe that she should be under our care."

"I thought so." Kankuro replied.

"What do you think brother?" The Kazikage asked.

"I agree with you." He replied. "She really should be our responsibility however The Leaf Village seems to be interested in her as well."

Gaara nodded. "She'd be much safer here or in the leaf than anywhere else."

Kankuro studied his younger brother for a few moments. "You want to protect her don't you?" he said. The Kazikage looked up at him surprise in his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with that you know."

"I desire to protect all people from The Land of Wind." Gaara replied.

The painted faced shinobi shook his head. "I know that, but I'm fairly certain that even if she didn't have a connection to this village you'd still have the desire to protect her just as strongly."

"What are you saying?" Gaara replied his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'm just saying that you seem concerned with her on a more personal level is all." The puppeteer replied. The Kazikage stood from his chair and turned to face the window. "Listen, you might be the Kazikage, but you're also Gaara. You're a man who is free to make his own choices in every aspect of your life."

There was a knock at the door and The Kazkikage sighed. "Come in." he called out.

Temari walked in and smiled. "Hey there." She said cheerfully. "How are my favorite bothers?" she said closing the door behind her.

"We're your only brothers." Kankuro replied grumbling slightly.

"So? You're still my favorites." She protested with a smile. "Anyway, I ran into Sakura and Sauske on my way over here."

"Oh really?" Kankuro replied.

"Yeah. They were holding hands!" the blonde haired shinobi sighed. "It was so cute! Sakura finally got her man! I'm so happy for her and a bit jealous." She admitted.

Kankuro snorted. "Don't kid yourself. Everyone here knows that you've got it bad for the leaf's Shikimaru."

Temari blushed and reached back for her fan. "Say what?" she demanded. "I don't know what you're talking about! Who'd like that guy? He's always going on about how much of a drag everything is and he's always got that blonde bimbo hanging out with him." She muttered.

"I heard from Naruto that Ino is with Sai." Gaara said softly.

Temari's green eyes lit up. "Really!? What a relief." She saw Kankuro's smirk and frowned. "Not that I care!" she shot back. "Ugh!" she groaned. "That wasn't what I came here to tell you. Sakura said that she's going to release Onchou from the hospital today. She wanted to ask what you planned to do with her and Ryuu since there won't be room for both of them in the room she's staying in with the other leaf ninja. She also said that she still had tests to run on Onchou so she didn't want her just tossed out into the desert or something."

Kankuro chuckled. "Does she really think our Gaara would do something like that?" he asked.

"I don't think so but it does present a unique problem. What do you think Gaara?" the fan wielder asked.

Gaara touched his hand to his chin and leaned against the wall trying to come up with a solution. Given the delicacy of the situation and the fact that she was in danger he couldn't just leave her unattended but the elders would frown upon him assigning ninja to protect her. "I'll arrange for her to stay in the guest house." He said.

Kankuro and Temari's eyes widened. "The one that's connected to our residence?" Kuro asked. Gaara nodded.

"Why there?" Temari asked. "Why not an inn or something? Not that I mind having her or Ryuu around, that kid is actually pretty funny when he's not worrying about the girl but I don't think the elders will like that."

The red haired shinobi sighed. "There aren't many things that the elders do like." He replied. "Besides, given her unique situation it only makes sense to keep her close. She cannot be allowed to leave the village until we get this troubling matter solved but she's not a criminal. I don't want to force the two of them into lockup when they haven't done anything wrong so the next best solution is to keep them close so that they can't run off but aren't treated like criminals either."

Kankuro sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "You have a good point there. Assigning guards to them would be a hassle especially since the ninja from the leaf are basically doing that already."

"Good point." Temari agreed. "I'll go see to the preparations then."

"Very well. Thank you sister." Gaara replied.

"Anytime." She replied slipping out the door.

"I'll leave things here to you." Gaara said approaching the door himself.

"Alright, but where are you going?" the hooded ninja asked.

"I have some business to attend to." The paled eyed man replied before leaving.

"Yeah, you're going to talk to that girl aren't you." He muttered. With a sigh he turned his attention to the paperwork strewn across the desk and went to work.

Gaara entered the hospital and approached the front desk. One of his eyes narrowing slightly as he listened to the girl chat with her friend.

"And then he looked at me! Naruto Uzamaki looked at me and then told me that he liked my hair!" she squealed.

He sighed, he really didn't get along with girls for this reason. He looked at the girl and sighed. Her hair was styled into what looked like a cinnamon bun on her head. Knowing his friend, he'd likely been referring to her hair looking like food and the blonde's heart only beat for Hinata. He cleared his throat and the girl immediately blushed.

"Lord Gaara!" she exclaimed blushing furiously. "What a surprise! How can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm here to visit Onchou." He replied.

"Oh alright." The girl said grabbing a visitor pass. He nodded and started to walk away when she called out to him. "Don't you need to know the room number?" she asked.

"I already know her room. Thank you." He replied quickly walking to the elevators taking it to the third floor where Onchou was. He exited the contraption and immediately became aware that the bulk of the chakra signatures was near the end of the hallway where Onchou's room was. AS he neared the room, he slowed down as a sound reached his ears. It was a person singing, they were very good from what he could hear. He slipped just inside Onchou's door his eyes widening as he saw her surrounded by a knot of people composed mostly of children singing a song he didn't recognize but was felt almost familiar.

"All that is near us we must know could disappear any day be careful. The main key to finding happiness lies nowhere else but in my soul. The closer you get to something the harder it is to see it and I'll never take it for granted let's go!"

As he watched and listened to her, she seemed genuinely happy her eyes bright and a large genuine smile of her face. As he studied her expression he noted that she had a dimple on the right side of her mouth and found it incredibly adorable. Her eyes suddenly focused on him and her singing faded.

"Lord Kazikage." She said softly. "I wasn't expecting you to visit."

The adults in the room whirled around expressions of fear and anxiety on their faces. He wasn't surprised that most of them still feared him initially even if they're opinions of him were quickly changing for the better. The children however reacted quiet differently turning slowly and studying him with curious but not fearful eyes.

"I apologize for not letting you know in advance." He replied lowering his head slightly. "I have some things I need to discuss with you Miss Onchou if that's alright."

She nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry, that'll have to be all for today." She said bowing her head apologetically to her little audience.

"Aw!" one of the children whined. "I wanted to hear the duck song again."

Onchou reached out and touched the red head child on the head. "I'm sorry little one. Maybe another time."

The group quickly cleared out and Gaara approached her bedside. "It seems you're rather popular." He remarked. "I never knew you possessed such a talent."

"Thanks." She replied blushing a little. "It was an accident really. I was singing Ryuu a lullaby one evening before he left for the night and a child in the hallway overheard and came in the room. Word spread quickly and before I knew it I had children and their parents drifting into my room from time to time asking me to sing."

"I see. I'm sorry they disturbed you while you were supposed to be resting." He replied.

"Don't be. I actually really enjoy singing and I don't mind doing it in front of people especially if it helps them feel better or forget about where they are." She said with a little smile.

He nodded and then glanced around the room. "Have you been outside since your training session?" he asked noting her blush and the little one of his own that came at the mention of the event.

"No." she replied. "Sakura has been doing a lot of blood tests on me and I've honestly been a little tired learning to adjust to this climate. Spending six or so years mostly underground has more lasting effects than I expected."

The Kazikage nodded. "In that case, would you like to go with me to the roof? I'd like to speak with you in private."

She blinked. "Sure." She replied reaching out to turn off the IV drip attached to her hand and quickly disconnecting herself from it.

"You didn't have to do that." He replied his eyes widening at how quickly she managed the action.

"I'm used to it." She replied simply. "It's just solution to help keep my hydrated anyway." She slipped to the floor and slid her feet into a pair of slippers and he noticed her clothes for the first time. She was wearing a royal blue tunic with long sleeves that were rolled up to just below her elbows. Silver buttons shimmered at the neckline and the two breast pockets. Her legs were covered in black leggings with white musical notes running down the side of each leg. She tossed her violet hair and then used an elastic to secure it into a low pony tail. "I'm ready." She said after a moment.

"Right." He replied leading the way out of the room. He led her down the hall to the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor. She leaned against the wall of the tiny room one leg slightly bent with her arms clasped behind her back her eyes trained on the floor.

"How is your recovery going?" Gaara asked to distract himself from how pretty she looked and their close proximity.

She nodded. "Pretty good. Sakura said that my chakra network is nearly fully healed so I should be back to full strength in no time." She chuckled. "Not that it matters really."

"Why do you say that?" he asked as the elevator stopped and the pair walked through the hallway of the last floor earning curious looks from both the staff and patients before taking the stairs to the roof.

"I honestly haven't really been in a situation where I've needed to use my full strength in years." She replied. "It almost feels like a waste."

"I can understand that." He replied looking at his own hands. The last time he'd come close to using his full strength was protecting his village from moon fragments a couple of years ago and even that hadn't cut it. He did take comfort in that fact however that it meant he could protect his village from just about anything.

The pair walked to a bench on the hospital roof underneath a metal awning to keep the sunlight off and Onchou sighed slipping the elastic from her hair so that the wind could ruffle her hair her eyes closed and a smile on her lips. "I love the sensation of wind in my hair." She confessed. "It makes me feel so free."

Gaara nodded. "It does." He agreed. When she opened her eyes again, he spoke. "You did a really good job beating me the other day." He said.

The violet haired girl blushed and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, I feel a little guilty about how I won though." She admitted.

He shook his head. "There's no need for you to feel guilty. A true shinobi should be prepared for anything and clearly I wasn't."

Onchou snorted. "I don't think anyone can really prepare for what happened at the end of that match." She muttered.

The Kazikage coughed as his mind replayed the accidental kiss in his mind again and made a mental note to focus on meditation in his next training session to clear his mind easier. "Onchou about Takuma and his organization." He laced his fingers together and leaned forward slightly resting his elbows on his knees. "I really need you to tell me everything you know."

The violet haired girl sighed and looked away. "Why do you need to know?" she asked. "I haven't been with him for over a year now. A lot can change in that amount of time."

"That's true, however some things remain the same and knowledge is power. We cannot defeat an enemy we know nothing about." Gaara replied.

The girl wrapped her arms around herself and he noted that her fingertips traced over the spot where the brand bearing the number 269 rested. "What are you going to do to me afterwards?" she asked. "Are you going to lock me and Ryuu up or just throw us out?"

"I won't do either of those things." He protested. "I'm not your enemy."

Onchou drew her knees up to her chest. "How can I be sure of that? How do I know you're not just saying what you think I want to hear?"

"You said that you have the power to hear what a person's soul is saying right?" he said softly. "Does mine tell you that I'm lying?"

The amethyst eyed girl glanced at him her eyes wide and then sighed. "No. I can tell you're not lying to me. You have no intention of betraying us now but that could easily change in the future."

Gaara nodded. "That's true but I assure you that I really just want to help you and Ryuu."

"Why do you care?" she asked.

"I admire your strength and courage. In addition, you're in this situation partially because of my village's inability to protect yours. It's our duty to care for you now." He replied.

"I see." She replied looking away. Her head bowed and she laced her fingers together. "Alright. I'll do it, but I'll need a few days to compile a list for you. I'm assuming you want information on all his agents in addition to his criminal exploits so it's going to take some time."

"Excellent." He replied. "I really appreciate it and I promise not to betray you."

"Thank you." The violet haired girl replied softly.

He nodded. "Of course. Also, you're being discharged today. From tonight onwards it has been decided that you'll sleep in the guest house attacked to the Kazikage's residence along with Ryuu."

"Oh. Thank you very much. You don't have to though." She replied.

"I want to." He responded. "I'd like you to stay with the leaf ninja after today during the day."

"No problem. I like those people and watching Ryuu, Sasuke, and Naruto constantly bicker is very entertaining."

"I'm glad to hear it." He replied. "I have to go back now." He said. "Do you want to sit out here a while longer?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I do. Sorry." She glanced up at him her eyes shimmering with an emotion that he didn't quite understand. "Thank you Gaara, for everything." She said.

"You're welcome Onchou." He replied. The instinct to reach out and touch her, to caress her cheek or stroke her shoulder but he ignored both of those impulses and instead reached out and touched her lightly on top of her head. "I'll see you tonight then." He said before he left leaving the amethyst eyed girl blushing behind him.

"Ugh! Why can't I figure it out!?" Sakura exclaimed tossing the lab reports across the room. "Why can't I figure out that last blasted component?!"

"Are you alright Lady Sakura?" Leo asked.

She raked her hand through her hair and groaned. "No. No I'm not alright." She muttered. "I've never had so much trouble figuring out the chemical makeup of anything. Sasori's poison was child's play compared to this garbage."

"I know you can figure it out Lady Sakura." Leo said moving up behind her. "Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"No. Thanks though." She said standing up and out of his reach. "I think I'm just going to take a break."

"Can I come with you?" he asked.

"I guess." She replied as she left the laboratory. "I kind of just wanted to be alone though."

"Oh ok. I'll just come along anyway if it's all the same to you." He replied.

"Suit yourself." She replied walking out onto the street.

"Maybe we should get something to eat." Leo suggested.

Sakura shrugged to be honest, she really didn't want to be alone. She wanted to be with a certain dark haired shinobi but at the time, she didn't know where he was. The sand shinobi pulled her towards a restaurant and she was about to follow she caught a glimpse of black and a brush of electric chakra from just a few yards up the street. Her heart lifted in her chest at the same she felt the waves of frustration bubbling up inside of her. "Sasuke!" she called out.

The figure stopped at the sound of her voice and turned. Her heart beat faster as the man she loved met her gaze. He moved towards her his expression one of curiosity. "Sakura. I thought you were working in the lab today." He replied. As he came closer he noted the slight wrinkle of her brow, a dusting of moisture forming in her eyes, and tension radiating from her body and chakra. "What's wrong?" he asked his lips turning down slightly. Sakura couldn't contain it anymore and jogged to close the distance and threw her arms around the Uchiha surprising him. He lifted his hand to her back and glanced around awkwardly. "Seriously Sakura, what's wrong?"

"I'm so frustrated with the Black Water and Leo keeps flirting with me so I want to break the lab and his face but I need both so I can't. Ugh!" she exclaimed mortified by the tears threatening to spill.

Sasuke blinked in surprise and then sighed laying his hand on her head. "Calm down Sakura." He said softly. "Let's go somewhere else and talk." He suggest. "You're hungry right? Naruto, Sai, and Ryuu went to get ramen so we can do somewhere else and eat."

"But Leo…" she muttered as the tall ninja approached them.

"We're going to lunch." Sasuke said eyeing the blue eyed sand shinobi. "Thanks for looking after her in the lab Leo. I'll take over from here."

"Sure." The shinobi replied. "I'll see you later Lady Sakura."

"Come on, let's go." The Uchiha said pulling her into a small secluded restaurant. They sat down at one of the smaller tables. After ordering their food, Sakura took a deep breath as Sasuke turned to her.

"Alright, now that you've settled down a bit, why don't you tell me exactly what's going on." He said studying her from across the table.

Sakura sighed. Having Sasuke to vent to was a new experience for her. In the past she'd only really had Naruto to vent to. She loved her whiskered teammate very much but when it came to her frustrations he couldn't really relate to or help her. Sure he'd always find a way to cheer her up but she'd always walk away with just a twinge of frustration left over because the root of the issue was never really discussed enough for her liking. Sai was a little better but as soon as he said the words "I read in a book" she'd shut down and want to punch him instead. Deciding to just spit it out she sighed.

"I keep hitting a brick wall with the Black Water." She replied stirring her drink. "I'm so close but I can't break down the last chemical element." She leaned forward raking her hands through her hair. "I can't even isolate it from the others very well. It's almost like it's alive or something. It's pissing me off!" she exclaimed clenching her hand into a fist. "I know that Onchou's been working hard to moderate the levels on her own and everything but even so if things continue the way they are this stuff is still going to kill her. There's a possibility that it's already shortened her life span." She sighed. "I can't allow that to happen after all she's been through. She's counting on me!"

Sasuke nodded as she spoke. "I see." He remarked. "Sakura, you're one of the best medics in the world. Try not to let it get you down. You'll figure it out."

She snorted. "Easy for you to say Mr. Savior of the World." She muttered.

He sighed. "Don't be like that Sakura." He said taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." She muttered. "My inferiority complex gets really bad when I get stuck like this. You can ask Naruto about it I'm sure he has lots of stories about me crying and tearing up the training grounds in my frustration."

"So you finally admit you have one. An inferiority complex that is." He remarked.

"Only when it comes to you two." She muttered the waitress brought over their food and Sakura gasped.

"What is it?" Saskue asked.

"Our waitress reminds me of that red head you used to run around with." She replied noting the girl's vivid red hair and glasses.

"Karin?" Sasuke replied glancing at the girl. "I guess there's sort of a resemblance." He admitted.

"Yeah. I was actually kind of jealous of her." Sakura admitted.

` The Uchiha's dark brow rose at that. "Really? Why?"

"She was able to be by your side when I couldn't." she admitted. "To be honest I almost did want to take her place when you asked me on that bridge but I also knew that you weren't yourself anymore." He nodded a faraway look in his eye and a random thought occurred to her. "Wait a second, how did you know I was a medical ninja?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"You told me that you knew I was a medical ninja that day. How did you know that? There was no way to tell from my gear and it's not like it was ever mentioned in those ridiculous conversations you and Naruto had when we met up. You didn't even speak to me most of the time." She said.

He cringed a little at her comment. When he was in that dark state hearing her talk annoyed him because her voice and words made him ache in a way that Naruto's didn't. However the spec of light and warmth in his heart was just relieved to see her alive and well. He sighed. "To be honest, I found out by coincidence." He replied. "As the years progressed, news of your medical prowess just naturally made its way through the ninja world. I might have been rough but I was still a ninja. I couldn't help but overhear." His mind went back to when he was traveling with his team Taka.

"I need to take a break." Suiegetsu whined as he walked with his back hunched over as the four man team neared the outskirts of a village.

"Just evaporate!" Karin snapped. "You're seriously so useless! Why do you put up with him Sasuke!?" the fiery redhead demanded.

"Shut up you hag!" Suigetsu shot back his lips curling over his pointed teeth.

Sasuke sighed. No matter how many times he explained, she wouldn't understand so there was no point. 'At least Sakura would've taken the hint and dropped it' he thought to himself. "Leave it alone Karin." He responded. She pouted in response and he once again had to remind himself of her usefulness. "We can rest at the village just ahead. You can make it that far right?" he said to his white haired companion.

"I guess." Suigetsu replied.

As they came closer it became obvious that there was something going on as the villagers milled around the village square talking excitedly to one another.

"My son too! He was completely cured!" a woman exclaimed. "The doctor's had told me it was incurable!"

"What are they going on about?" Suiegetsu asked as more villagers gathered.

"I don't know." Jugo replied. He turned to the bird sitting on his massive shoulder and then nodded. "It seems that this village was plagued by a deadly illness. It caused terrible bouts of madness and bleeding from the eyes and ears."

"That sounds pretty nasty." Suigetsu muttered. "Is it still here?"

"Let's find out." Karin said. "It'll be bad if we contract the illness by being here." She said jogging up to the woman who had talked about her son.

"Excuse me, could you tell us what happened here?" she asked the woman. "What's the illness everyone is talking about?"

"It was awful." The woman replied. "Many of our people came down with it and lost their minds. We were worried it would be our undoing but it has been eradicated from our village thanks to a team of ninja. There was a medical ninja among them that was simply extraordinary. She figured out that the source of the illness was coming from our drinking water and created a treatment for the water and treated all of the patients."

"Wow. She must have been a pretty talented medical ninja to do all that." Suigetsu replied. "Definitely more skilled than this hag." He said pointing with his thumb at the redhead who stopped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest indignantly. "Can you tell me the name of this medical ninja? Maybe we can trade Karin in for her."

The woman nodded. "Of course! Her name was Sakura! She was a pretty girl with short pink hair." The woman sighed and smiled. "I'll always be thankful to her. She'll probably become one of the greatest medical ninja in the world if she isn't already."

"Thanks for the info." Suigetsu replied with a toothy grin. "What do you say Sasuke? Should we track down this Sakura chick? She sounds useful."

Sasuke smiled in spite of himself. It seemed that his former teammate was making quite a name for herself. Saving an entire village from being wiped out from a waterborne illness and treating her patients and their family in such a way that they held a deep respect for her. His once annoying teammate wasn't so useless after all.

"Wait, is Sasuke smiling?" Karin asked elbowing Suigetsu in the side.

"Ouch! So what if he is? Every guy has a right to smile you know. Did you think he couldn't or something?" he asked.

"What are you smiling about?" Jugo asked.

"Nothing important." He replied turning away. "Let's take a short breather and then continue on." He said sitting down on a stone bench. As he did so he glanced up and watched as the wind blew past shaking petals from the nearby cherry tree. A full bloom blew through the air and landed on his lap. He lifted it up and place it in his palm and studied the pink petals as his mind conjured up the face of a girl he hadn't seen in a while with bright green eyes and hair the color of her namesake. "Sakura." He murmured softly.

"Yeah, that was the girl's name." Suigetsu replied. "Have you ever heard of her?" he asked.

"I have." He replied.

"So will you ask her to join?" the sharp toothed boy replied.

"No." he replied shortly.

"Bummer!" the white haired man replied. "I was looking forward to getting rid of this freak." He muttered motioning to the red head.

"What did you say?!" Karin snapped her hands reaching for the water man's throat.

Sasuke sighed and then his eyes widened as the wind picked up again and blew the flower out of his hands. A wry smirk crossed his lips as he closed his hand around where the flower had just been. 'That's right.' He said to himself. 'I made my decision. There's no way I could ask her to be with me now.'

"Sasuke?" Sakura said pulling him out of his flashback.

"Yes." He replied embarrassed that she'd caught him off in his own little world.

"Did anything happen between you and Karin?" she asked.

He blinked in surprise and then chuckled. "No." he replied simply. "There's no way I could ever have feelings for that woman."

"Oh really?" Sakura replied. "Why is that?" she asked.

He thought for a moment. "She was obsessive, clingy, and way too forward." He replied simply.

Sakura cringed. "I was like that once too." She muttered.

"Yeah, when you were twelve, not now." He replied with a grin. "Besides, she only liked me for my looks and my chakra."

"Your chakra?" the pink haired medic replied a brow rising.

He sighed. "Don't ask. Anyway, I've never held any special feelings for her. Why do you ask? Are you jealous?" he asked smirking at her.

"Well yeah. Of course I'm jealous." Sakura replied. "She was able to be by your side when I couldn't. I wish that I'd been able to be there for you more than I have been." Sasuke smiled and reached over tapping her in the middle of her forehead over the top of the indigo diamond she'd earned. "What was that for?" she asked blushing.

"I was just thinking about how cute you are sometimes." He replied. "Getting jealous of a girl that could never hold a candle to you."

She blushed deeper and he was surprised when she moved closer to him. "Sasuke." She said softly.

"What is it?" he asked glancing over at her.

"Can I kiss you?" she asked her cheeks burning even brighter.

He blushed himself and then coughed. Her blush, the nervous shifting of her body and the way that she looked up at him with those big green eyes had his heart throbbing in his chest and his mind melting away. He was certain that she had no idea how beautiful she looked at the moment.

"Of course." He replied leaning towards her his eyes closing. She closed the distance and pressed her satin lip against his. After a moment she changed the angle nipping at his lower lip and the flame in his belly flared in response as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer. After a moment she pulled away and then laid her head against his chest.

"Thank you Sasuke." She said soflty. "I feel much better now."

He smiled and squeezed her tighter. "So do I." He replied tucking her head under his chin.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: Thanks again for all of your support. To those readers looking for a little more heat. I'm planning on keeping this story's T rating although it's always subject to change. Secondly I'm trying really hard to keep the characters true to their original nature. Sasuke and Sakura are both first timers when it comes to relationships. Things will get hotter I promise I'm just trying to keep it at a realistic pace especially when they're in a situation where they don't have their own room or anything. I will do my best though.

"Alright, you're good to go." Sakura said checking Onchou over one last time. "What are your plans for after you've been released?"

"Lord Gaara has arranged for Ryuu and I to stay in the Kazikage's guest house." She replied.

"Really? That's a surprise." Sasuke said leaning against the wall. "It must be his attempt to keep you close but not treat you like criminals."

Ryuu crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah right. I'm on to that guy. He just wants Onchou nearby so he can make a move on her!"

Onchou chuckled. "Ryuu, Lord Gaara isn't like that and he doesn't see me in that way. He just wants to take care of us while we're here." She said as she placed her clothes inside her bag.

"Whatever, it's so obvious that he wants to kiss you." He grumbled.

Onchou stumbled falling face first into the wall as her cheeks blazed. "What?!" she squeaked.

"I said he wants to kiss you." The child repeated.

The violet haired girl tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. "Yeah. Right." She muttered rubbing her forehead. "We're supposed to stick with the leaf ninja during the day but I also have some paperwork to work on." She said.

"Don't worry about any of that today." Temari said as she walked in the room. "Gaara said that he just wants you to spend the evening relaxing and getting settled."

"Oh, that's kind of him." Onchou replied.

"I'm telling you, he's totally got a thing for you." Ryuu pouted.

"Let it go kid." Sasuke replied.

The child snorted. "Well at least I won't have to share a room with you anymore. You and Naruto argue like an old married couple."

Sakura giggled as Sasuke's brow twitched with irritation. "Ryuu. You should be thanking them for letting you stay with them." Onchou chastised.

The ruby eyed boy sighed. "If you say so." He muttered. He turned and bowed to the two leaf ninja. "Thank you for letting me stay with you."

"We were happy to have you Ryuu and we'll still see each other during the day." Sakura assured him ruffling his silver hair.

He smiled and Temari walked forward taking the two packed bags sitting on the hospital bed. "I'll take these to the guest house. You're eating dinner with the Leaf ninja right?"

Onchou and Ryuu nodded. "They're eating BBQ!" the child exclaimed. "It's my favorite!"

"Alright. Someone will come and get you later then. It'll probably me or my brother Kankuro." The blonde desert ninja said.

"Thank you very much." Onchou replied. "We'll keep an eye out for you."

"Let's go then." Sasuke said heading towards the door.

The foursome walked out of the hospital and Ryuu quickly slipped his hand into Onchou's.

"Is something wrong?" she asked as he held it tightly. "It's been a little while since you've wanted to hold my hand like this."

"I missed you." He said softly.

She smiled down at him. "I missed you too bud." She said giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

The child studied Sasuke and Sakura walking next to them hand in hand and smirked. "Love birds." He teased. Sasuke's eyes narrowed even as Sakura smiled.

"Don't tease them so much." Onchou chided. "Love like that is beautiful you know."

Ryuu sighed. "I guess. Scary Eyes definitely has been nicer since he started holding her hand." He admitted. "But still, that doesn't mean I'm going to let raccoon eyes hold your hand!"

Onchou blushed and Sakura giggled. "Ryuu. Lord Gaara doesn't want to hold my hand."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Sakura said with a smile.

The violet haired girl rolled her eyes as the group entered the restaurant and sat down at the table where Naruto and Sai were already seated at.

"Hey! So Sakura cleared you to go?" Naruto asked as Onchou settled down next to him.

"Yeah. I'm almost fully recovered." She replied.

"Excellent! That means I can spar against you!" he said with a grin.

"Why would you want to do that?" she asked as she went to work grilling meat.

"You beat Gaara! Of course I want a go at you now too!" the blonde exclaimed.

Onchou blushed at the mention of the Kazikage and the sparing match and chuckled nervously. "Right. That actually wouldn't be a bad idea. It's about time for me to have a good sparing match anyway."

The group started eating, and Naruto began telling a story about how he and Gaara had dueled while the Uzamaki had been on his way to rescue his sensei.

"Have you noticed that Onchou blushes every time Lord Gaara's name is mentioned?" Sakura whispered in Sasuke's ear.

The Uchiha nodded. "I have. I wonder if anything happened between them." He replied.

"What makes you think something happened?" Sai asked. "She might just have a crush on him or something."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't think so. She's not really the type to blush over something like that. It's a possibility though."

"What are you whispering about over there?" Naruto demanded. "It better not be anything dirty since there is a kid here." He said motioning to Ryuu.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Seriously, being around Jairiya didn't do you any favors in the pervert department."

"Oh yeah? And being around Orochimaru didn't do you any favors in the creepy department." Naruto shot back.

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed. "Loser." He snorted.

"Duck butt hair." Naruto replied.

Sai's eyes widened, Sakura's jaw dropped and Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you just call me?" he demanded.

"You heard me!" Naruto replied.

"What is he talking about?" Onchou asked Sakura.

"Well… back in the day, Sasuke's hair was shorter and it stuck up even more then than it does now. You can imagine the rest yourself." She replied.

"It's not my fault my hair did that any more than it's your fault that you have whisker marks on your face!" Sasuke snarled.

"Ok. I'll admit that, but let's talk about that outfit you wore when we first saw you with Orochimaru. That blue skirt and those giant purple ropes tied in a pretty bow were bad enough but your shirt! Was it really necessary to show that much skin? I mean we all know he wanted you for body but we didn't think it was in that way."

The Uchiha's eyes flashed dangerously as Sakura and Onchou dissolved into a fit of giggles. "Do you want to die tonight Naruto?" Sasuke asked his tone dark and deadly. "You're definitely on that path."

"He does have a point." Sai replied. "That outfit of yours was strange."

"Like you're one to talk belly shirt boy." Ryuu replied.

The Uzamaki and Uchiha both froze at the child's comment before the entire table erupted into a fit of loud laughter.

"Ryuu! You're almost as good as I am." Naruto said reaching over to smack the boy on the back.

Onchou sighed and lowered her head. "I swear I didn't teach him to talk like this." She muttered.

Sakura laughed. "Don't worry about it." She said with a smile. "He's just at that age."

"Then what's your excuse for the way these two are talking." The violet haired teen replied motioning to the blonde and raven haired young men nearest to her.

"I think it's because they have six years worth of teasing to get out of their system." Sakura replied. "Or it's because they're basically brothers and brothers never stop that sort of thing."

Onchou nodded and smiled "That's true I suppose."

Sakura smiled at her and then her eyes widened as a figure with pale skin, red hair, and black rimmed blue green eyes appeared at their table.

"Good evening." Gaara said. "It sounds like you're enjoying yourselves."

Onchou glanced at the sand shinobi and smiled tucking her hair behind her ear as a little blush colored her cheeks.

"We are." Ryuu replied with a smile. "If Naruto keeps going I think Sasuke really will hurt him."

Gaara shook his head as the blonde grinned and Sasuke glowered at him. "Naruto has always been the type to laugh in the face of mortal danger." He said observing his first friend.

"I'm still alive aren't I?" Naruto said.

"Not for much longer." The Uchiha threatened.

"What brings you here Lord Gaara?" A waitress said approaching him batting her long eyelashes. "Can I help you with anything? Anything at all?" she said brushing against him lightly with her chest.

Sakura nearly cringed with how hard the young woman was trying and then glanced at Onchou who had her head turned away from the scene suddenly very focused on braiding Ryuu's hair.

"No thank you. I'm actually here to pick up Miss Onchou and Ryuu." He said turning his gaze to the two.

"Oh? I thought the blonde lady or the guy with purple stripes on his face was going to pick us up." Ryuu said getting to his feet and looking at the Kazikage. "I wasn't expecting you raccoon eyes."

"Ryuu, please be polite." Onchou said quietly. The child glanced down at her frowning a little at her tone.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." She replied rising to her feet. "We should get going. We shouldn't waste Lord Kazikage's time." she came closer to him and bowed respectfully. "I apologize for making you wait."

Gaara's brow wrinkled a little at her change in attitude and he shook his head. "It's no problem. I rather enjoy this present company." He stepped to the side unconsciously moving closer to the waitress motioning for her to go out of the room first. "Shall we go?"

"Yes Lord Kazikage." She said walking out of the room.

Sakura watched a frown form on Gaara's face as the violet haired girl left in front of him hand in hand with Ryuu who glared at the sand shinobi.

"Did something happen?" he asked. "She doesn't seem like herself."

The pink haired medic snorted marveling at how oblivious the male species could be. "Yeah but it's something that can't be explained in present company." She said her eyes narrowing at the waitress. "Umm can I get a refill? That _is_ your job right?" she said to the lusty eyed girl raising her half empty glass.

"Oh. Right. Just a minute miss." She said dashing away.

"There, you're free. Now go after them. They're probably halfway down the street in a random direction by now." Sakura said waving the redhead forward. "I'll give you hint since it's clear to me that you know little about women." She waited until the Kazikage met her gaze. "She's either hurt or angry, probably a mix of both. That's why she's talking to you so formally."

"Right." He said lowering his head slightly. "I'll take my leave now. Thank you for looking after them."

Sakura sighed and leaned back slightly. "I swear, men are completely clueless." She muttered.

"I don't get it. What's wrong with Onchou?" Naruto asked as the waitress came back and refilled their drinks. "I've never seen her act like that with anyone. They were definitely on more friendly terms before."

The pink haired medic sighed. "Well of course you don't get it Naruto. It took what, sixteen years for you to figure out that Hinata was in love with you?" she said. "Few things make a girl more upset than watching another woman throw themselves at the guy they like." She said shooting daggers at the waitress as she walked away. She yawned and stretched.

"Are you feeling alright?" Sasuke asked. "You seem tired."

"A bit." She admitted.

"Do you want to go back to the room then?" he asked.

She nodded and the Uchiha stood offering her his hand. "What are you guys going to do?" she asked.

"Sai wanted to paint the night sky here since it's clearer than what we see at home. I was going to tag along." Naruto replied.

"Sounds good." Sakura replied. "Don't stay out too late alright? You guys have to work looking after Onchou and Ryuu tomorrow.

"Yes mother." Naruto teased. "You two behave now."

The Uazmaki received a face full of fist in return before the pink haired medic and the Uchiha left.

"That stupid Naruto!" she fumed. "I swear! I'm going to let him have it the next time he and Hinata are together."

Sasuke just shook his head linking fingers with her and giving her a gentle squeeze it as they navigated the darkening streets of Suna. After a few moments the Uchiha spoke. "So what's going on with Onchou?" he asked. "I thought she and Gaara were on much better terms than that."

Sakura sighed. "You're almost as bad as Naruto." She muttered before she sighed and glanced up at the stars. "I don't know if she even realizes it yet but from what I can tell, she's starting to develop feelings for him. Not only that but I'm pretty sure something has already happened between them just like you said. There's… tension between them." She said her brow furrowing a little as she tried to explain it. "Anyway, she's upset because that girl was all over him. She acted that way around him because that's the kind of distance she's feeling from him at the moment."

"I see." Sasuke replied. "Do you feel the same way when girls are all over me?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes though I can tell you don't like it so it doesn't bother me as much. Onchou and Gaara don't know each other that well yet so she takes his indifference as he doesn't mind the extra female attention unlike the rest of us who know that Gaara's not interested in girls like that at all and naturally just doesn't have big reactions to much of anything most of the time."

The Uchiha nodded as they walked through the doors of their hotel and rode the elevator to their floor. It occurred to Sakura that it would be the first time they'd be alone together behind closed doors since becoming a couple. Her heart pounded in her chest at the thought as Sasuke's key hit the lock of their door and pushed it open flipping on the switch for the lights and motioning for her to go in first. He quickly followed and the door closed behind him. The click of the lock engaging seemed to echo through the large space that suddenly felt too small.

"What do you want to do?" Sasuke asked softly from behind her.

She nearly jumped at the sound of his voice and turned around blushing at the smirk and little chuckle that escaped his lips as he took off his jacket. The movement rustled the leaf headband tied to his belt loop and she reached out to touch it.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked as she lifted the band and ran her fingers over the leaf symbol and the angry slash running through it. Tears formed in her eyes as she remembered what she'd learned from Naruto, Kakashi and Lady Tsunade about the truth behind Itcahi and his incredible sacrifice. They slipped down her cheeks as regret about the situation and her once negative feelings for the Uchiha floated towards the surface. Anguish filled her soul at the terrible series of events that had pitted the two brothers against one another leading both down paths of darkness and isolation. Long pale fingers reached out and wiped at the tears. "Sakura. Why are you crying?" he asked.

She looked up at him, at the mismatched eyes that had seen so many horrible things over the past nineteen years. Any words she wanted to say became caught in her throat and she instead reached forward cupping his face in her hands and stretched up on her toes to press a kiss to his forehead. She pulled away and then wrapped her arms around his waist. His own arms twined around her shoulders and his hands gently stroked her hair.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" he asked again.

"I was just thinking about how cruel life can be." She murmured.

"It's true." He replied softly. "It can also be beautiful and full of light and warmth. I just didn't realized that until recently, or rather, I forgot and recently remembered."

Sakura lifted her face her eyes finding his. She stretched up on her toes and pressed her lips to his releasing her hold on his waist to slip her arms around his neck threading her fingers through his silken, ink colored hair. Heat sprung to life in her chest and she began to move her mouth against his. 'I can't change the past.' She thought as one of her hands slid down from his hair to his face cupping his cheek as she parted her lips and pressed her mouth more firmly against his feeling his grip on her tighten and his breathing hitch at the action, 'but at least now I can try to give him some of the warmth he's been without for so long.' She trembled as she felt Sasuke suck her lower lip into his mouth and whimpered a little in response. 'Itachi, if you can hear this, please let Sasuke know that I'll give him all of me, every ounce of warmth I have. I'll be his family if he'll let me.'

Sasuke's grip on Sakura's waist tightened as she arched into him closing the distance between their two bodies. His head was spinning with the rapid change in events. One moment she'd been crying and the next she was kissing him with more passion that he'd ever felt from her before. Flames roared to life in his gut as he traced his tongue lightly over her bottom lip and she parted her lips for him deepening the kiss. The flames turned to lightning and the more raw part of him reminded the rest of him that they were inside a locked room alone. It was true that Naruto and Sai would be returning eventually but he was sure they had time until then. He opened his eyes briefly to get his bearings never breaking the kiss and was grateful that Sakura had chosen the bed closest to the door. He gently guided her back until her knees hit the edge of the bed and her eyes flew open meeting his. His body shivered at the innocent yet eager expression on her face and the heat simmering just below the surface of her emerald orbs staring up at him. He brought his mouth to hers once more pressing both of them onto the mattress. His heart pounding almost painfully in his chest as he hovered over her one arm supporting as much of his weight as he could as the other dove into her rose colored tresses. After a few moments, he tore his mouth from hers and brought his lips to her jawline kissing his way up to the spot just behind her ear. He quickly learned that teasing her and being serious did two very different things to both of them as the flames of desire turned into bolts of electricity as she arched against him. He groaned and trailed his lips down her neck until he reached the spot where her neck and shoulder met. He then focused his attention there kissing, and sucking at the spot. His teeth occasionally nipping at the skin drinking in the sound of her ragged breathing and the littles sighs and whimpers that escaped her lips. His hands left her hair and trailed down her neck to her side tracing the curve of her body with his fingertips. She was firm with just the right amount of feminine softness and he marveled at how gorgeous she'd become over the years. From the defenseless, needy little girl to the strong, independent woman trembling beneath him. He brought his lips to her ear as his hand slid down past her hip to rest on her thigh.

"Sakura, you're so beautiful." He murmured softly trailing his hand back up over the path it took down the length of her body.

"Sasuke." She breathed. Her tone had him desperate to find her eyes and the passion he saw in them had his free hand fisting the sheets as a massive bolt of desire went straight to his groin. His eyes widened as her own hands reached up and trailed her finger tips down the length of his back exploring the ridges of muscles there over the fabric of his shirt. "I've dreamed about doing this to you." She admitted her cheeks burning with embarrassment even as her eye blazed with passion.

He groaned and pressed his mouth to hers again fisting his hand in the pink tresses while the other slipped underneath her urging her to arch against him. Slowly but surely he felt the grip on his control slipping as he slipped his hand under the fabric of her shirt splaying his hand across the bare skin of her back. "Sakura." He groaned against her neck his hand slipping lower to grip her hip. His eyes suddenly snapped open as he sensed a bright excitable chakra accompanied by a cooler, more fluid chakra nearing their door. "Crap!" he hissed scrambling to get off the clearly confused girl beneath him.

"Sasuke? What's wrong?" Sakura asked as he quickly raked a hand through his hair trying to straighten it and adjusted his shirt.

"Hurry up and fix yourself!" he snapped. "That idiot and Sai are almost here." Her eyes widened and she blushed. He glanced over as she sat up. The sight of her nearly drove him mad with her kiss reddened lips, her hair that had been tousled by his hands, and the reddish mark on the nape of her neck. She looked so beautiful and alluring it was criminal. 'Sakura Haruno, what are you doing to me?' he groaned scrubbing his hands over his face as he walked to the small fridge in the room and took out his water bottle downing the contents hoping the cold water would help clear his mind.

"Hey guys!" Naruto said bounding into the room with Sai right behind him. "You missed it! We saw three shooting stars."

"That's exciting." Sasuke said shaking his head one last time. "What did you wish for? A brain that actually functions?"

"Why you!?" Naruto exclaimed charging at the Uchiha.

Sai walked over and leaned against the wall near Sakura's bedside watching as the two best friends wrestled. "I commend you for putting up with that as often as you do." He said.

Sakura shook her head and smiled. "I'm actually really happy to." She replied. "This is how it always should have been."

"I see." Sai replied with a little smile of his own. "You really love them don't you?"

She nodded. "I do. I really do." She turned to the painter. "I love you too Sai, so don't go feeling left out."

He chuckled. "I know I'm not match for them in your heart, but I also know that you speak the truth so thank you."

"This is where you'll be staying." Gaara said motioning to the three bedroom guest house attached to the Kazikage's residence. "I'll show you around."

Onchou nodded and walked inside taking a deep breath as she passed by the Kazikage. She was so irritated! That stupid waitress rubbed up against him like he was some damned lucky charm or something.

"Are you ok Onchou?" Ryuu asked.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" she replied.

"My hand." He replied.

It occurred to her that she was squeezing the boy's hand tightly and immediately released it. "Oops. Sorry." She replied.

"Please follow me." Gaara said leading the way down the hall. "Temari put your things in the master bedroom." He said motioning to the large bedroom with one king bed and trundle bed set up next to it.

"Please let her know that we greatly appreciate it." Onchou replied her tone cool and collected. 'What are you doing?!' she demanded of herself. 'Why are you talking to him like you would a stranger?'

He nodded and then motioned for them to follow him. They walked through the living room to a large door. "This is the door that connects the two houses." He explained before pushing it open. "It leads to the kitchen which is the only thing the guest house doesn't have."

"I understand." Onchou replied glancing around the room. "I'll buy any groceries we need. You won't have to worry about us."

Gaara's brow wrinkled slightly at her words. "There's no need for that." He replied. "Just make a list and leave it here." He said motioning to a clip on the fridge. "We'll see to it you get what you need."

"Are you sure?" she replied. "You really don't have to."

"I'm sure." He replied.

Ryuu yawned and Onchou glanced down at the boy. "You've had a long day haven't you? I was wondering why you were being so quiet. Let's get you washed up and ready for bed." She turned to the Kazikage. "Thank you for all that you've done for us. I'll start working on the reports you requested first thing tomorrow morning." She said bowing to the red haired man.

She turned away but paused when she felt his hand on her shoulder sending her heart into overdrive. His soul song was agitated, and confused. She knew it was because of her stiff and formal way of talking but at the moment, she just couldn't bring herself to speak to him in any other way. "Can I help you with something Lord Kazikage?" she asked turning to face him though she kept her eyes trained on his hair instead of his eyes.

"I thought I asked you to call me Gaara?" he said softly his brow furrowing slightly. "There's something off about you tonight. What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry. I think I'm just a little tired. There's no need for you to worry about me, I can take care of myself." She said offering a small half smile but refusing to look him in the eye. "I really should be going now. It's past Ryuu's bedtime. Sleep well Lord Kazikage." She said slipping through the door closing it tightly behind her.

Gaara stared at the closed door irritation pulsing in his veins. What was wrong with her?

"Hey Gaara. Did Onchou and Ryuu get settled in?" Kankuro asked appearing in the kitchen. "I thought I heard her voice." He stopped in the entry way and studied his younger brother noting the stiffness in his posture, his hands balled into fists and the barely noticeable grains of sand swirling around him as his chakra flared. "Hey, what's wrong? I haven't seen you like this in a while."

"What is wrong with her?" Gaara demanded softly the grains of sand moving a little faster. "She's been acting strange all evening."

"Who has? Onchou?" Kankuro replied glancing at the door the separated the two residences.

"Yes. She's been acting so formal around me. I don't know what happened. Sakura said that she was hurt or irritated but whenever I try to ask her about it, she avoids it. She won't even look me in the eye." He said his brow twitching. "What on earth happened? This morning she called me by name but now she only addresses me as 'Lord Kazikage'."

The black clad sand ninja frowned. "I see. I don't really have a clue as to what happened. Sorry. Maybe when things have cooled down a little you'll be able to talk to her about it?" He suggested.

Gaara nodded and walked upstairs still fuming. He'd felt so at ease and happy when he'd walked in and seen Onchou smiling and laughing with the leaf shinobi. He'd felt even better when she smiled directly at him with just a tinge of pink appearing on her bronze cheeks. Then that irritating woman had touched him and his mood had soured. Onchou's behavior towards him abruptly changed as well frustrating him even more. He'd hoped she'd talk to him on the way to the house but instead she'd walked in silence only speaking when he asked her a question and answering in the most minimal ways possible.

"So irritating!" he muttered as he entered his room quickly throwing off his clothes and walking to the bathroom. He stepped into the shower and turned on the water letting it rush over him bracing his forearms against the wall in front of him as he gritted his teeth. He hadn't felt like this in years. He desperately wanted to march into the house connected to his, walk into the master bedroom, drag the violet haired girl out of bed and demand to know what was wrong with her. To trap her between his arms, stare into those enchanting amethyst eyes of hers and not let her move until the tension between them was gone so he could think rationally again. "Damn it all!" he growled as he shut the water off and quickly toweled off his body. He slipped into the white shirt and black pants he wore to bed and raked his fingers through his damp hair trying to calm himself down. He yanked back the covers on his bed and slipped underneath them covering his head like a child as he curled into a ball. "What is this? Why am I getting so muddled over her?" he wondered aloud before he allowed the fatigue left over from the day take over his body sending him into a deep sleep.

"Onchou, are you sure you're ok? You seem really mad at raccoon eyes. Did he do something to hurt you?" Ryuu asked as the violet haired teen worked braiding the boy's hair so that he wouldn't wake up looking like he'd been zapped by one of her lightning bolts in the morning.

She blinked and then sighed. "No. I'm not mad at Lord Gaara. I'm just… Irritated in general." She replied. In all honesty, she wasn't being fair. Gaara didn't hold any special feelings for her and he was a public official. Both of those facts made it obvious why he didn't push away the brazen hussy that had been all over him. It made her upset to see how much the girl didn't respect him or his position. She had heard the girl's soul song, how she wanted the money, fame, and power that Gaara possessed. Those things were such a tiny, insignificant part of him it made her sick to listen to it. She had to get out before the temptation to rip the little gold digger became too strong to resist. "All done." She said slipping an elastic into Ryuu's hair. "Let's go to bed alright? You can sleep with me tonight. I know getting used to this new place is going to be hard."

The boy smiled and nodded wrapping his arms around her. "I love you Onchou. You're the best." He said softly.

The amethyst eyed girl smiled in spite of herself and leaned down pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "Thank you Ryuu. I love you too." She said scooping the exhausted child into her arms and carrying him to the bed. With infinite care she laid him down and tucked him in. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and then left to change into her silver, short sleeved nightgown that came to just below her knees. She slipped into bed next to Ryuu and glanced up at the ceiling as notes of Gaara's song still laced with irritation floated past her ears. "Please forgive me Gaara." She said softly. "I'm not the kind of girl you think I am. I'm not worth getting upset over." She murmured rolling towards Ryuu and slipping her arm around him. "If it weren't for my promise to protect you, I would've killed myself or let myself be killed a long time ago. The world doesn't need people like me in it." She murmured as she drifted asleep with the tendrils of darkness still clinging to her mind.

Onchou found herself standing in the middle of an open field wearing a white dress. She glanced around searching for another person and spotted a figure in the distance standing with their back to her. Curious about the person's identity she approached them and smiled as she came closer. She recognized the person. Their red hair, their broad shoulders and pale skin. He was wearing black with his gourd at his hip and she moved a little faster as she closed the distance between them. "Gaara!" she called out waving to him.

He turned to face her and his expression stopped her dead in her tracks. His eyes were fearful and sad his hands flexing as sand swirled around him.

"Stay away from me." He said. "Don't you dare come near me."

"Gaara, what's wrong?" she asked her brow furrowing with worry.

"I know. I know everything." He replied his voice hard. "You killed them, you killed them all." He murmured.

She noticed smoke rising and ran to the edge of the cliff they were standing on. Her eyes widened with fear as she saw them, the people she'd killed screaming and crying as they were consumed by fire, buried by earth, drowned by water, electrified by lightning, and ripped apart by wind as creatures she commanded swarmed tearing them apart.

"No! This is all wrong!" she exclaimed her hands shaking as they covered her eyes. "I didn't want this!" she screamed sinking to her knees. "I swear to you I never meant for any of this to happen!" Her body trembled as she looked down and found that her white dress was stained red with the blood of her victims as tears streamed down her face. "This isn't me! This isn't what I wanted!" she sobbed.

"It's far too late for that." Gaara replied. "I have no choice but to destroy you. You're much of a threat to be left alive." He said as sand began to engulf her. "Goodbye Onchou."

She sat bolt upright her chest heaving as sweat dripped from her brow. Her eyes quickly scanned the room. "Just a dream." She murmured touching a hand to her forehead. "Such a terrible dream." She murmured glancing over at Ryuu who was sleeping peacefully beside her. With a little sigh she reached out and brushed the hair out of his face before slipping out of bed and padding over to where her bag was. Her hands trembled as she reached for the box of tea she always brought with her. It was a rare tea from The Land of the Moon and one of the few things that could help her sleep after such vivid nightmares. She quickly walked to the door separating the two residences and paused. There was a chance that if she went through the door, she's run into Gaara and she wasn't quite ready for that, however she also needed to sleep. An exasperated sigh left her lips as she pushed the door open and slipped into the kitchen. Quickly finding the tea pot and filling it with water as quietly as possible. If he showed up so be it, she was just going to drink her tea and get out anyway.

Gaara tossed and turned caught in the throes of a dream. He was a genin again walking beside his brother and sister in the forest of death. He was full of rage and itching to fight, to rip apart the next person in his path and prove that he was the strongest. They came upon a clearing and found a group of masked ninja with no identifying headbands and he smirked.

"I was hoping I'd run into someone soon. I was getting bored." He murmured his hands extending forward.

"Back off small fry!" the first ninja called out.

"Yeah, you're nothing but a stupid kid that not even a mother could love." The second one replied.

His anger flared and sand rushed forward wrapping around the three ninja. "You're going to die now." He said softly. "No one talks to me like this and lives to tell about it. Sand Burial!" he exclaimed closing his fists and reducing the tree ninja to nothing but scraps of flesh.

He smirked as his sand now stained red with blood swirled back towards him and his gourd. As he did so, another figure appeared before him wearing a wine colored shirt and black leggings. Her violet hair handing loose to her waist, her amethyst eyes wide her mouth open in horror as she stared at him.

"Gaara! What did you do?" she gasped.

He blinked and suddenly he was in his present body again, no longer the thirteen year old of his past. His bloody sand suddenly dropped to the ground as a horrible sinking sensation filled his heart.

"Onchou." He murmured glancing around at the carnage around them. He took a step towards her his hand reaching towards her. "I swear, I didn't mean to." He stammered his heart throbbing painfully in his chest when she shied away from him. "I'm not the hateful child I once was." He said moving towards her. "Please." He begged taking a step towards her.

She backed away and he reached forward again his sand swirling around her bringing her towards him even as she thrashed in protest. "What are you doing?!" she demanded. "How could you do that to them?"

She came to a stop in front of him and he reached out to her wrapping his arms around her even as she tried to push him away. His natural defense activated sealing them both inside the ball of sand. "Stay by my side." He whispered against her hair. "Don't leave me alone."

He opened his eyes and gasped as he saw her buried in his sand gasping for air. "Gaara!" she whimpered before she vanished in shower of blood and sand.

"No!" he exclaimed sitting upright in bed sweat dripping from his brow as he raked his fingers through his hair. He fought to get his breathing under control and glanced around his bedroom getting his bearings. "What an awful dream." He muttered. He rose from his bed and walked to the window and glanced out across the village he had stewardship over noting the very few lights on. After a few minutes he realized he was going to need a little help to fall back asleep and made his way downstairs intent on getting a glass of warm milk to help him sleep.

As he neared the kitchen he noticed the light already on and became aware that another chakra signature was already there, one that did not belong to his brother or sister. Curious, but not afraid he entered the kitchen slowly and was surprised to find Onchou sitting at his kitchen table with a steaming mug between her palms her head bowed. He noted that her hair had been weaved into a thick braid and she was wearing a silver nightgown. She looked much younger, much more vulnerable and he felt the desire to wrap his arms around her shoulders to protect her from everything dark in the world.

The girl seemed to sense his presence and glance up at him and could immediately tell that she was troubled by the dullness in her eyes and the way her mouth was set the corners turned down slightly. "Did I wake you?" she asked shifting to stand. "I'm sorry, I'll go back to my room."

His irritation flared at her defensiveness and obvious attempt to avoid him. "Don't!" he commanded his voice a little harsher than he intended. He took a deep breath and sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. "I mean, please stay. You haven't finished yet, so just stay until you're finished."

"Ok." She replied settling back down into her seat and lifting her mug to her lips. As he watched he remembered the sensation of her lips against his own and wondered if they'd taste like the tea she was drinking or be warmer now. Shaking his head at the ridiculous thought he pulled open the fridge and pulled out the milk pouring it into a small sauce pan and turning on the heat. He leaned back against the counter resting his hands on the edge as he waited for the milk to warm.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?" Onchou said softy.

He blinked in surprise and looked at her. Though she didn't return his gaze she was talking to him which was better than the awkward silence. "You could say that." He replied "What about yourself?"

The violet haired girl nodded. "Something like that." She replied her grip on the mug tightening a little.

He nodded and tested the milk in the pan. Finding the temperature suitable he poured the warmed liquid into a mug and then pulled down a bottle of brandy letting just a little trickle into the cup before replacing it in the cupboard and went to join her at the table.

"What are you drinking?" he asked.

"Luna tea." She replied. "It's from The Land of the Moon."

"It smells sweet." He replied.

She nodded. "I put some honey in it. Unfortunately it lessens the effectiveness of it but I just can't drink it straight. It's too bitter for me." She admitted.

"I see." He replied. They each sipped their drinks in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. "Onchou, have I done something to upset you?"

She blinked in surprise and glanced at him her amethyst eyes finally meeting his pale blue green orbs. He had no idea why but just the simple motion of her looking him in the eye again made a little of his irritation disappear. The violet haired girl sighed and glanced down at her tea again.

"No. I'm sorry." She replied. "I was irritated by something else I heard."

"What did you hear?" he asked.

She sighed. "I heard that waitresses' soul song. It was full of selfishness and greed." Her hands gripped the cup she was holding. "She wanted to possess you for strictly superficial reasons and it made me angry." Her brow furrowed. "People who think of their fellow humans as just objects to own or use make me livid."

Gaara's eyes widened. She was upset because she didn't like what someone was thinking of him? He studied her and felt his heart rate accelerate. "I see. I'm sorry." He replied. "I'm used to women like her so I guess it just didn't bother me."

The bronze skinned girl chuckled and took a long pull from her cup. "For someone who holds the title of Kazikage, you don't value yourself very much." She said looking at him again.

He met her gaze as he reflected on her words. From the time he was born, he'd been treated and viewed as nothing but a weapon. A mindless monster ready to strike at any moment. Even after changing he'd been nearly hunted down by the previous Kazikage initially until he'd realized he wasn't a threat anymore. Then he'd had the monster taken from him but there were many who still feared him. He'd never really considered the fact that he had value as an individual except for in his power.

She sighed as she finished her cup and stood taking it to the sink. She quickly washed it and placed it in the drying rack before walking up to stand beside him. "I'm probably the least qualified person in the world to be telling you this, but you should value yourself more." She said glancing at him. "This probably won't make sense do you, but you saved my life almost two years ago."

He glanced up at her his eyes wide. He didn't remember saving her or even seeing her until she'd shown up on Naruto's back.

She smiled and chuckled. "Don't worry yourself about not remembering." She said. "I know that you didn't see me and it wasn't like you did something grand like saved me from a pack of bloodthirsty beasts or anything. It was just you being yourself." She looked down at him and smiled. "Your simple existence is what saved me so thank you for being you." Gaara's heart swelled a little at her words. Perhaps he did have value outside of his power and position after all. She moved towards the door separating the two residences and she paused and turned back to him. "Goodnight, Gaara." She said a little blush coming to her cheeks at the words before she slipped through the door and pulled it closed behind her.

Gaara stared after the spot where she'd stood his heart in his throat. How had just a few words from her made his heart beat so fast and feel so light? He'd been desperate to hear those words for years, for someone to tell him that he had value for who he was as a person regardless of his abilities. He knew there were a few like Naruto, Kankuro, and Temari who felt that way about him but outside of that, there were very few. He quickly finished his drink and washed his own cup before ascending the stairs once more. He felt much more relaxed in both mind and body knowing that wasn't angry with him and hearing her say his name had been much more fulfilling than he'd hoped. With a contented sigh he fell asleep again and this time the nightmares of the past were replaced with happy dreams of what a future with her walking by his side.

"So Onchou is going to be watched by Sai today?" Sakura said as she examined a slid under her microscope.

"That's right." Sasuke replied sitting in one of the chairs situated in the lab. "He seemed pretty excited too but then again she's spending the day in the library and he seems really interested in books written on psychology."

The pink haired medic snorted. "Of course he is. He was raised to be emotionless so learning all of that stuff is his only hope at someday being normal." She said jotting down some notes as she worked on a vaccine she hoped would get rid of the Black Water in Onchou's system. "What about Naruto and Ryuu?"

"Those two kids decided to hike some of the cliffs of the outskirts of town." He replied.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Sakura asked. "Not that I mind you here, I'm just curious."

"I've had enough of Naruto for now. He spotted that mark on your neck and has been giving me so much crap it's not funny." He grumbled.

The pink haired medic blushed at the mention of the mark and then smiled. "You should see the marks he's left on Hinata before." She replied. A grin came to her face as a memory surfaced. "She actually came to me to be examined the first time he left one on her neck thinking she was coming down with something." She laughed. "She was so mortified when I told her what it was and made me promise not to tell her daddy. I even made up a fake illness for her in case he ever noticed and questioned her about it."

Sasuke wrinkled his nose. "Please keep stuff like that to yourself. I don't want to imagine the stuff that blonde idiot does with his girlfriend."

The pink haired girl laughed. "If you say so. Anyway, I was thinking that now that Onchou is out of the hospital that maybe all of us could go to the bathhouse. There's only one in town but I'm sure Gaara could get us in. I'm dying for a soak."

The dark haired Uchiha thought for a moment, it had been a while since he'd done something like that himself particularly in company he somewhat enjoyed. "That sounds alright to me." He conceded.

Sakura smiled. "Great! Would you mind letting everyone know?" she asked. "I think we should invite Gaara, Kankuro and Temari too."

Sasuke sighed. "What makes you think they'll agree to go along? Particularly Gaara."

The emerald eyed girl smiled. "Just tell him that the bath will help Onchou heal."

"Ok, that'll make sure he gets us in but coming with us?" Sasuke replied.

She chuckled. "That'll make him come too. He likes spending time with Naruto and he's protective of Onchou. There's no way he won't come when she's in a place where other men could potentially put her at risk."

"Hey. Not all of us are like that Pervy Sage." The ink haired young man said crossing his hands over his chest.

"No, but his books do sell well here. Do you really think he'd forget that?" she replied wiggling her brows.

He sighed. "Whatever you say." He conceded. "I'll be back to get you at lunch time ok?" he said moving forward stealing a sweet kiss.

"Sounds lovely." She replied. "See you later." Stealing one of her own just a little deeper and longer that had him shaking his head to clear his mind as he stumbled out of the lab.

"Why do I have to be the errand boy?" he muttered as he stepped out into the bright sunlight. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Where to start." He muttered. "Sai and Onchou will be easiest to find so we'll start there." He replied making his way from the laboratory to the library where the two had decided to spend their day. Once inside he quickly searched for their chakra signatures and found them situated in a private room at the back of the large building. He made his way there ignoring the whispers that followed him and knocked on the door.

Sai opened the door and studied him. "Sasuke, I wasn't expecting you so soon. Can we help you with something?" he asked.

"It's nothing like that. I'm just running and errand for Sakura." He replied.

"Oh ok." The pale shinobi replied opening the door wider and inviting the Uchiha inside before he closed the door behind him.

Sasuke studied the room. Books were strewn across the table closest to the door likely the one Sai had been using. Towards the back of the small room Onchou was seated at a writing desk several pages already stacked in her finished pile as her brush moved over another sheet her free hand tangled in her hair supporting her head as she worked. She glanced up at him and there was pain evident in her eyes even as she worked quickly to hide it offering him a small smile.

"Sasuke, what brings you here?" she asked. "I thought you were spending the day with Sakura?"

"She asked me to run an errand for her." He replied.

"Ah, I see." She said straightening and putting her brush down.

"She wanted me to tell you that we're going to the bathhouse together tonight." He said.

The dark skinned girl's eyes widened. "A public bathhouse?" she clarified.

He nodded. "Yeah, she said it'll help you heal faster."

She chewed on her lip nervously and then sighed. "Even if I say no she's going to drag me along anyway huh?" He nodded and she leaned against her hand. "Alright. Something like that might feel good after sitting at a desk all day. I'm used to traveling, this is suffocating."

The Uchiha chuckled. "I know exactly how you feel." He said with a smile. "I'll be on my way now." He glanced at the violet haired girl. "Don't work too hard ok? I know that Lord Gaara asked for those reports but that doesn't mean he wants you to over work yourself trying to get them done ok?"

The girl blinked and then smirked. "Wow, you're not acting like a proper Uchiha at all. I thought you were all selfish bastards?" she reased.

He rolled his eyes. "Right." He replied before leaving the library. As he walked a young woman with brown hair reached out to him.

"Sasuke Uchiha! Can you stay for a little while? We're researching ocular jutsu and we know that you're the master of it." She twittered.

The dark haired shinobi sighed. If they'd been serious he might have been tempted to agree but he'd seen her and her friends when he walked in. They'd been studying water style jutsu and though he had the ability to use it, it wasn't his forte. Lying to him to his face like that was just ridiculous. "I'm sorry. I'm actually in the middle of something." He replied. "Also, my girlfriend is much better at water jutsu than I am."

He hid the satisfied smirk that nearly came to his lips as he strode away leaving the girl dumbfounded behind him and walked out of the library. Not ready to deal with the whiskered idiot's teasing nor wanting to scale the cliffs just yet he decided to look for the sand shinobi next. He knew that Gaara was likely in his office and Kankuro was his assistant so they wouldn't be hard to find really but he just couldn't really justify barging into the Kazikage's office for something so trivial. Temari on the other hand was the sand village's training coordinator so she would be a bit easier to find and talk to. He focused his eye powers and quickly searched the village for the sand shinobi's chakra signature and found it near the training grounds.

He moved quickly across the rooftops of the village taking in the unique architecture as he did. The rounded, rust red buildings were very interesting and he wondered how they were built as he slowed down nearing the training area and dropped to the ground as he spotted his target directing a group of chunin in a series of combat exercises.

"Temari!" he called out as he approached.

"Sasuke Uchiha." She returned. "This is a surprise. What brings you here?" she asked.

"I'm running and errand for Sakura." He admitted. "She wanted to know if you would join us at the bathhouse tonight."

The blond shinobi raised an eyebrow but smiled. "Is Onchou coming?" she asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. Sakura said that minerals in the water would help her heal faster."

Temari smiled. "Excellent. I've been anxious to talk to that girl some more."

"Why is that?" The Uchiha asked.

"I want to learn more about this girl that my baby brother is so interested in." she replied with a smile. "Speaking of my brother. I'm guessing you want me to invite him?"

The dark haired shinobi nodded. "Him and your older brother."

"You can go ask them yourself if you want." She said motioning to the Kazikage's building. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"No thanks." He replied. "I really can't justify barging in like that over something so casual." He replied. "Besides, I've got to go track down Naruto and Ryuu. They went hiking in the cliffs around the village so I'm sure I've got my work cut out for me."

The blonde haired shinobi chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Ok then, I'll talk to them." She looked him over and touched her chin. "Would you mind giving my students a demonstration tomorrow?" she asked. "I'm trying to teach them how to break a genjutus but too many of them aren't taking it seriously. Yours isn't easily broken so I think you'd be a good reminder of just how terrifying it can be."

The Uchiha sighed. "You're a little on the sadistic side aren't you?" he remarked shaking his head when she smirked in response. "Alright. I can do that I guess. Tomorrow at this same time?"

She nodded. "Thanks Sasuke. I appreciate it." She said with a smile before turning back to her students.

He nodded to her and then took off in the direction of the cliffs activating his eye power searching for the blonde idiot and the child with him. Pinpointing their location he sprinted across the village to the nearby cliffs and found the pair sitting on a ledge clearly taking a break.

"Scary eyes, why are you here?" Ryuu asked.

Sasuke shook his head at the insult and sat down beside them. "I'm just here on an errand from Sakura." He replied.

"She's got you running those already?" Naruto asked with a smirk on his face.

"Shut if whisker boy." He muttered. "I'm just here to let you know we're going to the bathhouse with everyone today."

"Really? That sounds like fun. Did you invite Gaara?" The Uzamaki asked.

The raven haired shinobi nodded. "Him and Kankuro, or rather, Temari is telling them they're invited."

"Excellent!" his friend exclaimed.

Ryuu sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I guess I'll go with you guys." He said. "Someone has to protect Onchou."

Sasuke snorted. "I'm pretty sure she can protect herself." He replied.

"No way! She needs my protection!" he exclaimed. "Old raccoon eyes will never get a chance to peek at her!" the silver haired child declared.

"You've been around Naruto way too much." The Uchiha muttered. "Anyway, I've got to get back to town. I promised Sakura I'd meet her for lunch."

"Alright." Naruto replied. "Just be gentle with her ok? Sakura is a delicate flower just like her name sake." he said with a wink.

Ryuu cringed as the Uchiha's fist made contact with the Uzamaki's shoulder sending him flying into the nearby stone wall before the dark haired shinobi vanished with a quiet pop. The silver haired child walked forward and crouched next to the fallen man. "Was it worth it?" he asked.

The blonde haired boy grinned. "Totally worth it! Did you see how red he turned!?" he asked before the two dissolved into a fit of laughter.

Gaara sighed as he worked at his desk. He's slept well after his milk and talk with Onchou but he'd still lost precious sleep and he was paying for it now. There was a knock at the door and he recognized the chakra signature of the person outside and quickly called out for them to enter.

"Hello Gaara and Kuro." Temari said smiling as she walked into his office closing the door behind her as she greeted him and his older brother standing next to him.

"What's up Temari." Kankuro replied. "Training going alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Much better than it has in a while but they're still not taking their genjutsu training seriously."

"That's not surprising. Unless you've actually been caught in a serious genjutsu, it's hard to really understand how terrible it can be." Gaara replied.

"Exactly, which is why I'm going to teach them a lesson they'll never forget tomorrow." She said with a smirk.

"How so?" Kankuro asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha is going to teach 'Genjutsu Terror 101'." She replied.

Gaara's brow arched and Kankuro chuckled. "Really? I want to watch that exercise." He remarked.

"Why did you speak with Sasuke Uchiha?" Gaara asked. "I thought he was working with Sakura today."

"He stopped by to pass on a message from her." The blonde sand ninja replied.

"What message?" Kankuro asked.

"She and the rest of the Leaf ninja are going to the bathhouse tonight. She invited the three of us to join them." She said cheerfully.

"I see." Gaara said as his brow furrowed slightly.

"Onchou and Ryuu are going with them." Temari added exchanging a knowing look with her older brother. "Sakura said it would help her heal faster. She's still not completely recovered it seems."

The sand wielding ninja's eyes widened slightly at his sister's words. If Onchou was going then it would be in her best interests that he went as well. He wasn't stupid, he knew that men with impure intentions went to the bathhouses to spy on women. If he himself went, not only would security be more alert than usual but he'd be able to protect her with his own hands if needed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go." He said. "It's been a while since we all attended such a place." Kankuro snickered and Temari grinned and his eyes narrowed. "Did I say something strange?" he asked.

"Not at all." Temari replied.

"In fact, you said exactly what we thought you'd say." Kuro said with a smile. "Let's get to work so we can be done in time to join the others."

Gaara nodded and focused on the stack of paperwork in front of him. He was sure Onchou was working hard on the assignment he'd given her so he needed to work hard as well.

"This is the first time I've been to one of these places in a long time." Ryuu confessed "It's the very first time I've been on the boy's side too." He added as he followed the rest of the men inside.

"This is going to be awkward." Sasuke muttered.

"Hey Naruto. Do you remember the first time we came to a place like this together?" Sai asked.

"Yes I do, and it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life thanks to you and your big mouth." The Uzamaki snarled as they group quickly removed their towels and slipped into the water.

"I want to hear the story." Sasuke said as he settled into one of the corners of the bath. Naruto sat down on his right side while Ryuu sat on his left. Sai settled next to the silver haired child and Gaara sat next to Naruto with Kankuro sitting next to him.

"Don't tell him." Naruto replied glaring daggers at the painter.

"I just made an honest observation about-" Sai started but never finished as the blonde ninja threw a bar of soap with pinpoint accuracy striking the pale shinobi in the middle of his forehead.

"Shut up Sai!" he hissed. "We have Ryuu with us." He reminded the dark eyed man.

"Right. Perhaps another time." Sai relented rubbing the spot where the soap had struck him.

Kankuro laughed at the exchange as Sasuke smirked.

"So, now that we're settled, let's get down to business. Sasuke how did Sakura get that mark on her neck?" Naruto asked pointedly.

"Here we go." Kankuro chuckled as the Uchiha's eyes shifted from mismatched purple and black to blood red revealing the sharingan his clan was famous for.

"How about I just show you instead?" Sasuke sneered.

"I don't like the way you're looking at me." Naruto replied covering his eyes with his hands.

Sakura grinned as she walked into the room where the girl's bath was located. "This is so nice!" she exclaimed. "Temari, thanks for hooking us up."

The blonde chuckled. "Don't thank me. It was Gaara, he insisted that both us, and the boys have their own private baths reserved."

The pink haired medic grinned. "I bet he did." She frowned slightly as Onchou entered the room with her towel wrapped tightly around her body. It was clear she was uncomfortable. "Onchou, relax! The three of us are the only ones allowed in here and Ryuu is with the boys, there's not a safer place in this world for him to be than surrounded by that lot."

"I know that." She replied. "It's just been a while since I've done something like this." She admitted.

"Don't worry about it. We're all girls and have all the same bits." Temari said removing her towel and slipping into the water.

"Exactly, and we're friends here so there's nothing to be ashamed of." Sakura said noting how the girl's hand was wrapped tightly around the brand on her shoulder.

Onchou nodded and walked to the edge of the water. She quickly slipped off her towel and lowered into the water.

Sakura couldn't help but frown at the scars that riddled the girl's body but quickly forced it away and put on a smile instead. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Seriously, you have nothing to be ashamed of." Temari remarked. "Your body is gorgeous! What I wouldn't give to have legs that long." She mused.

Onchou blushed and then smiled shyly. "Thank you."

"Now that the towels are off it's time to get right down to girl talk." Temari said with a grin. "I'd like to know what's going on between the new Snake Sannin and Slug Queen." She said glancing at Sakura. "I see that mark on your neck."

Sakura blushed and then smiled as she touched the mark. "You know, I've always loved Sasuke. Even when he was at his darkest and I knew he'd never feel the same way about me." She said. "Now that he's finally reciprocating my feelings, I feel so amazing." She admitted.

"That's so sweet." Onchou said with a smile. "Your patience and loyalty paid off. There's nothing better than that."

Temari nodded. "Yeah. Your story is an inspiration for loveless ladies like me." She replied.

Sakura snickered. "Loveless? Please, I've seen how you look at Shikimaru."

The sand ninja blinked in surprise and blushed. "Have you now?" she remarked looking away.

"I've seen the way he looks at you too." The pink haired medic continued with a wink. "He's definitely interested."

"You think so?" Temari asked her eyes lighting up a little before she sighed and leaned against the bath. "Even so, he's so laid back about everything. It'll probably take an eternity for him to make a move."

"Which is why you have to make the first move." Sakura replied.

"Seriously?" The blonde asked. "Should I?"

Sakura nodded. "Definitely. You two are heading up the Chinin exams this year again right?" Temari nodded. "So when the moment is right just make a move on him. Even if it's little, he's smart so he'll catch on quick."

"You really think so?" The green fan wielding ninja asked.

"Of course." The pink haired ninja replied. "He's not like Naruto who had to have his girl snatched by a moon guy to figure it out, or like Sasuke who has a mountain and a half of guilt over how he lived his life over the past few years to get over. Just go for it. I know he doesn't have eyes for anyone but you."

"Right. What about that Ino chick?" Temari asked.

Sakura snorted. "Not happening. She's with Sai now and she never liked Shikimaru."

"Really?" the blonde haired ninja replied. "She was always hanging all over him."

The pink haired medic rolled her eyes. "That's just how Ino is. She likes to hang all over the best looking man in the room. The only guys she really liked were Sasuke and then Sai but you can see how that turned out."

Temari smiled. "Thanks for the advice Sakura. I'm really looking forward to the exams now."

"How many are you going to make cry this year?" Sakura asked with a smirk.

"As many as I can." The blonde replied raising her eyebrows once.

Onchou shifted in the water and the two girls turned their attention to her.

"So how are you feeling?" Sakura asked the violet haired girl.

"A little better." She replied. "Sitting at a desk writing for hours on end is exhausting work. I think Sai felt sorry for me because he made me go with him to eat outside the library instead of just eating in our room like I suggested."

"What work are you doing?" Temari asked.

"I'm just writing up reports Gaara asked me for." Onchou replied pressing her fingers into her neck to work out the tension.

Sakura and Temari's eyes both changed at the mention of the Kazikage's name and they both smirked at one another before moving closer to the girl.

"So, are you and Gaara on better terms now?" Sakura asked.

"They were on bad terms?" Temari asked. "Why? What happened?"

"A busty, desperate waitress hitting on The Kazikage is what happened." Sakura replied her eyes narrowing at the memory. "Kudos to you for not punching her lights out."

Onchou's eyes narrowed slightly "I wanted to. Believe me." She muttered.

The blonde sand shinobi smacked her forehead with her palm. "That idiot brother of mine. I keep telling him that not doing anything just encourages it but he never listens to me." She glanced at the amethyst eyed girl. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's alright." The amethyst eyed girl replied.

"So, what do you think of my brother?" Temari asked.

The girl's eyes widened and then softened a little blush coming to her cheeks as she looked down at the water. "I think that he's a very special person. He's much more sensitive than he appears and he's quite kind." She said softly. "I know everyone talks about his power and his title but those are just a small part of who he is. He's driven by a strong desire to protect his people and be someone needed by others. I respect him a lot."

Sakura and Temari both smiled at her.

"What's that look for?" the bronze skinned teen asked shifting a little.

"You're so stinking cute." Temari replied.

"Seriously." Sakura agreed. "You like him for _who_ he is not _what_ he is."

"My little brother better get with the program." Temari remarked. "I like this lady way more than any of his annoying twittering fan girls."

Gaara sat in the warm water watching the leaf shinobi tease one another. It was a pleasant scene that almost eliminated his discomfort at not having his sand nearby. Water was his main weakness as far as ninjutsu was concerned. It was the main reason he didn't bathe often preferring to quickly shower and get dry again. He noticed Ryuu's ruby eyes on him and tilted his head slightly.

"Can I help you?" he asked the silver haired child. He was always so defensive around him though he couldn't remember doing anything to upset him except for referring to Onchou as 'that woman' when she was first brought to the village.

"What do you think of Onchou raccoon eyes?" the boy demanded crossing his arms over his chest.

The sand shinobi's eye widened at the direct question and he became increasingly uncomfortable as the chatter around him stopped and the eyes in the room focused on him.

"What do you mean?" he asked trying to stop the blush from coming to his cheeks.

Ryuu sighed. "You know what I mean." He replied. "Just tell me."

"I'm curious too." Naruto replied glancing at his redhead friend. "Onchou's a pretty cool girl. You should've seen how she totally took care of business when we first met."

Sauske nodded. "It was pretty impressive." He admitted.

"Her battle skills are great." Sai said. "I'm sure she hasn't even shown us everything she can do yet."

The silver haired child nodded. "Oh yeah. She's super strong." He said his face glowing with pride. "She can take down an entire army by herself."

"Impressive." Kankuro admitted.

"Yeah, but that's not all. Onchou is sweet, caring, and kind. She's always been there for me, protecting me and taking care of me." Ryuu said looking down at the water. "She's had to go through a lot of hard stuff. That's why I want to know what you think of her." He said lifting his eyes to meet Gaara's gaze. "I want to make sure you won't hurt her or make her do bad things like everyone else has."

"I would never do that to her." Gaara replied softly. "She doesn't deserve to be treated that way. I only desire to protect her from those that wish to harm her."

Ryuu nodded satisfied with the Kazikage's answer as Naruto smiled.

"That almost sounded like a confession to me." The Uazmaki teased his grin widening. "I bet something happened inside that sand ball of yours the other day."

Gaara's cheeks darkened even more as the memory of her lips against his flashed to the forefront of his mind without his permission.

"I think you're right." Kankuro said observing his brother's behavior. "I've never seen him blush like that."

In that moment Gaara just wanted to reduce himself to sand and drift into oblivion. However, considering he was in water at the moment, that option was unavailable to him. Desperate for an escape, he reached for his towel and slid out of the water.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto exclaimed jumping out of the water himself. "You're not going without telling us what happened."

"Nothing happened." Gaara replied cursing the heat that came to his cheeks as the image came to his mind again.

"You're such a liar." The blonde protested reaching for him. "Just spit it out! There wasn't enough time for you to do anything that terrible."

The red haired sand wielder gritted his teeth hating the sensation of being cornered as he struggled in his friend's grip.

"You might as well just spill it." Kankuro said from where he sat observing the tug of war.

"Yeah. He's really not going to let you leave until you tell him." Sasuke agreed.

"He's not afraid to fight dirty either." Sai added.

The pale eyed shinobi took a deep breath and looked at the ground. "We kissed." He said softly.

"What was that? I couldn't hear." Naruto said shaking his head. "Water in my ears. Say it again please."

His patience nearly run out Gaara cringed and raised his voice. "I said we kissed! It was a total accident." He added quickly.

The Uzamaki let his arm go his expression a mix of satisfaction and surprise. "That wasn't so hard was it?" he remarked.

Kankuro laughed out loud a huge grin on his face. "So that explains it! No wonder there's so much tension between you two."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Seriously. It's annoying but at least I understand why it's there."

"Shut up! Like you have room to talk." Naruto shot at the Uchiha. "The tension between you and Sakura was so bad up until you two got together that half of the leaf village wanted to lock you two in a room overnight to get rid of it."

The Uchiha's jaw dropped and Sai stifled a laugh. "Naruto…" Sasuke threatened.

"Give him a break. It was pretty bad." Sai replied.

"Yeah but all of that went away when you kissed her the other day." Naruto replied. He turned to his red haired friend. "That's all you have to do to make that go away you know. Just kiss her for real."

The sand shinobi truly wanted to drift away then. "Please." He begged mortified. He felt chakra flare and his own flared in response. His eyes widened as he noticed Ryuu glaring at him water whipping around him in little streams.

"You kissed my Onchou?" he asked his tone dark.

"Oh dear." Sai muttered.

"Gaara, I think it's best you leave now." Naruto said swallowing hard. "That kid looks pissed."

"And whose fault is that?" The sand wielder replied before slipping out of the bathroom. He toweled himself off quickly and slipped into his clothes and stepped outside glancing up at the stars. "Kiss her for real huh?" He chuckled "What a strange piece of advice." He murmured.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who's read and enjoyed this story! I really appreciate it. I had couple of reviewers who were asking that I pick up the pace and noted that the arch was getting a bit long. I'll explain my reasoning. If you're not satisfied that's alright, I just think it might help. For starters, this story is set after Naruto The Last but before they all have children (obviously). In The Last it was clear that though they'd matured quite a bit, they weren't at the level they are when the series picks up again roughly fifteen or so years later. If everyone remembers, Naruto is the Hokage, Sasuke is a genius ninja roaming the world in search of lingering bad guys out to destroy it and Sakura is the best medical nin in the world as well as a housewife. I personally believe that in order to get to that level, they still needed to be challenged. So what if they saved the world a couple of times? Most of that was due strictly to their battle skills and a hell of a lot of luck. The adults/ people in charge said "Hey! I found out that this dude/group is trying to destroy/take over the world." And they said. "Ok we'll defeat them for you." And they did. As rising leaders for the next generation they need to be the ones to say "Hey! I found this dude/group trying to take over/destroy the world. Here's my idea to defeat them. Can you send me XYZ to do it?" They need to surpass their teachers as well as their peers to take their positions later. They're not kids and teens running around on simple "Go here and do this" missions anymore. They're elite ninja who are learning to be the ones to find and defeat evil, not just defeat it. Also this story is focused a lot on the relationships between the characters and specifically romance. Stuff like that just naturally slows the pace of things. In the original series it was mostly "ACTION! Funny! ACTION! Feel." trying to keep the pace quick and light. Now that they're older and more mature as well as falling/being in love the pace is going to be more like "Feel! Funny! Action! FEEL!". And finally I actually do have a plan for exactly where this story is going and how it will end. Things always end up longer as I write it of course since I try to be detailed and accommodate reasonable requests. To those complaining about Onchou and Gaara having too many moments, I apologize I just like their relationship so far and want to explore it since like I said before I think Gaara deserves a little more love. I promise you that we are nearing the climax of this arc so be patient pretty please! Yes the Rookie 9 (including Hinata so there WILL be NarutoxHinata moments) plus Lee and Ten-Ten (Neji. I love you. Rest in peace. Tears!) will make an appearance. Alright! That rant was much longer than I intended it to be like most of these chapters have been…. Anyway onward with the story!

Sasuke sighed in his sleep as he became caught in the throes of a dream. He found himself at the old Uchiha hideout standing in front of the thick slab of cement bearing his clan's crest. It was where he and his brother had fought. Where Itcahi had died.

"Why am I here?" he muttered as he looked around the mountain of rubble. It was a little different than he remembered. Weathered by time with plant life springing to life between the slabs of broken cement and bricks.

"I had a feeling you'd come here." A voice said from beside him. He turned and was surprised to see his brother standing there dressed in a white kimono bearing the Uchiha crest on his sleeve. His eyes were warm as he stood before him. "Hello Sasuke, it's been a while."

"Itachi." Sasuke murmured. "How are you here?" he asked.

"I wanted to check up on my favorite little brother." Itachi replied with a smile. "I also had a feeling you wished to talk with me about something."

The younger Uchiha rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well that's an understatement. There's a lot of things I want to talk to you about." He replied.

His older brother chuckled and sat down against the cement wall and patted the spot next to him. "Well, we've been granted a bit of time so come take a seat brother. My time is yours."

Sasuke sat down next to his brother and chuckled. "You know, that outfit of yours suits you much better than those Akatsuki robes did." He said with a smile. "Those things were hideous."

Itachi laughed. "You wore them briefly too right? I agree with you. I have no idea why they picked that design. Kakazu probably got the fabric on sale or something."

The younger Uchiha snickered and nodded. "That must be it. There's no other reason a respectable group of murderers for hire would wear such awful clothing." He sighed and pulled his knees to his chest. "You know, I totally screwed up after you left the second time." He admitted softly. "I helped save the world."

"I know. I saw that. I was so proud of you I thought I was going to get kicked out of heaven for bragging too much." Itachi said with a grin.

"You were?" Sasuke replied glancing at his brother. The older man nodded and he smiled slightly before it fell again. "Yeah, and instead of celebrating and moving on like any normal person would I decided to cast a horrible genjutsu on the girl who had saved my life just moments before and got into a death match with my best friend and blew off my arm in the process." He muttered flexing the bandaged fingers of his replacement arm.

"Yeah… I saw that too." Itcahi replied. "That clap of thunder you heard right before that final blow was actually my scream of frustration." He chuckled and then sighed. "You know, Naruto was right. I should've been honest with you from the start. Maybe you wouldn't have felt the desire to take that path if I had." He mused.

Sasuke shook his head. "No. At that point I was so far gone, I probably just would've found another reason to do what I did." He replied. "I was blinded by hate, and jealousy. I was drunk on my own power. That curse was pretty potent."

"True enough, but you managed to break it. That's what's most important." Itachi said ruffling his hair. "I'm proud of you for that."

Sasuke smiled and then glanced up as wind rustled by flowing a flurry of pink cherry petals into the sky. He reached out and grabbed one and pulled it in and smiled down at it. "Itachi, did you ever meet a medical ninja named Sakura Haruno?" he asked.

Itachi's head inclined slightly as a smile came to his lips. "Ah, I see. Yes I did."

"What do you think of her?" the young Uchiha asked twirling the pink petals in between his fingers.

The older Uchiha touched his chin as he thought for a moment. "Her strength is astonishing." He replied. "Her medical mind is also one of the best I've ever encountered. She's also loyal and caring. Easily one of the best kunoichies in the world." He remarked.

Sasuke nodded his heart swelling with pride. "She is isn't she?" he said with smile which slowly fell.

"What is it Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

The younger Uchiha sighed and lowered his head between his knees. "She says she loves me." He replied softly.

The older Uchiha raised a brow. "Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

"No. It's not that." Sasuke replied rubbing his fingers through his hair. "It's not that at all. I'm glad she does because I…" he grit his teeth and then confessed. "I love her too." He admitted.

"Well look at you!" Itachi said nudging his brother's shoulder affectionately. "My baby brother has gone and fallen in love! Congratulations! I'm happy for you. Truly I am." He said smiling down at him.

"That's not the issue!" Sasuke protested shaking out his hair and then fisting his hands in it. "I've done such terrible, unforgivable things to her!" he exclaimed jumping to his feet in frustration as he began to pace. "I've torn her down so many times. Thrown her physical weakness in her face. Told her how useless and annoying she was! Pushed her away!" he stopped and stared at his hands. "I tried to kill her. With my own hands I nearly took her life!" he balled his good hand into a fist and slammed it against the cement his breathing erratic as his body trembled. "I don't have the right to even be in the same room as her but even so, she's by my side. I've held her, kissed her, felt her warmth and though it feels better than anything I can't help but feel this crippling guilt that I don't deserve it and I never will."

Itachi stood and gently touched him on the shoulder. "Sasuke, do you remember what I told you before I left you the second time?" he asked.

"You said you'd love me not matter what I did." The younger man replied softly.

The older man nodded. "Exactly. I've watched over you for as long as you've been alive and I still do even now. I see the man you are now and I know that it's not the same one you were when you did those things. She knows it too. You are now a man that can make her happy and protect her." He said with a smile. "Don't let the past hold you back. Our clan's obsession with the past is part of what led to their ruin. Look to the future and create something beautiful with the one you love by your side." He said with a smile. He glanced up at the sky and frowned. "Ah, it looks like my time is up. I guess you won't get to meet her today."

"Meet who?" he asked raising a brow.

He sensed another presence and heard a light, small voice. "Uncle Itachi! Grandma and Grandpa said it's time to come home! Dinner is almost ready!"

"I'll be right there lovely one!" The older man called out in response. He reached out and tapped his little brother in the middle of his forehead. "Until next time Sasuke." He said with a smile before he turned and began walking towards the setting sun.

Sasuke felt the world around them beginning the fade and chased after his brother. "Wait! Itachi! Who was that just now!?" he demanded rounding the corner of the cement wall. His eyes widened as he saw a little girl with jet black hair sitting on a large piece of rock swinging her legs as she waited. She had dark eyes like his own but they were a little bigger and softer. Her forehead was a little wider than most and she too wore a white kimono with the Uchiha crest on the sleeve. A Sakura blossom necklace shimmered at her neck. She smiled at his older brother and jumped into his arms giggling as she went. Itachi hugged her tightly and then tapped her in the middle of her forehead.

"Did you wait long?" he asked as he lowered her to the ground.

"Not long at all." She replied reaching up and grasping his hand tightly in her own.

Her eyes drifted back and met his and he felt his heart throb almost painfully in his chest. Tears sprang to his eyes as he studied them. "Brother. Is that…?" he murmured.

The girl smiled at him and then waved. "Sorry I have to go with Uncle Itachi." She said "I'll see you later Papa! Say hi to Mama for me!" and then they were gone.

Sasuke sat up in bed breathing hard and glanced around the room. It was early morning based on the lighting and he sighed as he dealt with the river of mixed emotions rushing inside him. He heard another person in the room shift and slide out of bed, their feet carrying them quickly but quietly to his side. Warm arms circled his waist and he closed his eyes as warm lips bushed against his own.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked softly reaching up to brush a tear from his eye.

"I'm fine." He replied quietly pulling her into his lap and tucking her head under his chin. "It was just a dream."

"What was it about?" the pink haired girl asked playing with the color of his sleep shirt.

"I dreamed about Itachi." He replied his fingers running lightly over the curve of her waist.

"I see. What kind of dream was it?" she responded nuzzling his collar bone.

"It was a good dream. One of the best I've had in a while." He said closing his eyes at the pleasant sensation.

"I'm glad." Sakura replied with a smile. "Do you want me to let you go back to sleep? There's still another hour or so before we have to be up."

He nodded. "I think I will try to sleep a little more." He replied laying back down gripping her tightly and bringing her with him. "Like this though." He said shifting them so that she was laying with her head on his chest.

"Are you sure? Naruto is going to give us Hell when he wakes up." She replied even as she snuggled against him.

"Let him." Sasuke replied. "I can take what he dishes out and give him back just as much."

"Good point." Sakura replied. "Alright then. Goodnight Sasuke." She said closing her eyes her breathing slowing.

"Good night Sakura." He replied stroking his fingers through her hair and then tapping his fingers against her forehead. "I love you." He said softly before he closed his eyes and drifted asleep.

Against his chest, Saukra smiled and a little tear slipped from her eye. She'd heard it. He'd said the three words she'd been so desperate to hear and now knew with certainty what that special motion of his meant. "Thank you, Sasuke." She whispered. "I love you too."

Sakura stood between Sasuke and Sai at the training grounds focused on the violet haired woman in the middle of the field. Naruto and Gaara stood next to the painter quietly talking amongst themselves.

"Training?" Sakura asked her eyes flickering to Sai.

"Yes." He replied. "She said that it was about time for her to release excess chakra again. Naruto wanted to spar with her but she opted against it and said she wanted to focus on different training today. Something about focusing on the elements she struggled with most."

"I see." Sakura replied. "Where's Ryuu?" she asked.

"He went with Temari to visit the training grounds. He's actually quite interested in the ninja training program so she offered to show him what it's like." Sai replied.

The pink haired medic nodded and smiled. "That sounds great! He's so good with water ninjutsu. If they were able to stay here, he'd be a great addition to their ranks."

On the field, Onchou's hands were pressed together, her eyes closed and her brow wrinkled with concentration. After a few moments of concentration she pulled her hands apart and a single flame emerged. She kept her eyes closed as she moved her hands around the flame using her wind chakra to encourage the flame to grow and burn brighter. After it had grown in size considerably she used her wind chakra to change its shape elongating it until it was nearly the length of her arm. She then began to move across the field her eyes still closed using her arms and hands to direct the flames as she weaved her way through obstacles.

"What kind of jutsu is that?" Sakura asked Sasuke as she girl moved her fingers flexing as she increased the heat of her flame changing it from red and orange to yellow with a light blue core.

"It's known as the fire whip." Sasuke replied as he watched the girl move. "It's a fairly difficult jutsu to master not only because the person using it needs to be able to use both fire and wind chakra simultaneously but because it's very hard to control once you manage to get it into the correct form. If you use too much wind chakra, you'll smother the flame, if you don't use enough the flames will run wild and burn you."

"That sounds pretty awesome." Naruto replied moving closer. "You can't do that can you Sasuke?"

The Uchiha shook his head. "No, I can't. I don't have that kind of control over my wind chakra." He replied. "Most fire wielders use wire like I do to direct their flames at specific targets. My mother could perform that jutsu though."

Sakura's eyes lit up and Naruto smiled at him. "Really?" The Uzamaki asked.

Sasuke nodded and smiled. "She was pretty famous for it actually. She was able to take that jutsu a step further as well and could make shapes out of it." He smiled. "When Itachi graduated from the academy she used her fire whip to make a weasel and chased the two of us around the yard with it during the celebration."

The ninja smiled at the Uchiha and then directed their attention back to the stadium as the amethyst eyed girl made a little grunt of exertion and pushed the whip further away from her body and changed the flame again to shimmering blue her body still gliding gracefully through the space.

"You know. It almost looks like she's dancing." Sakura mused.

Sai nodded. "It's actually quite beautiful to watch." He admitted.

"It kind of reminds me of how Gaara looks when he's fighting." Naruto said.

The Kazekage raised his brow slightly at that.

"It's true. He does have an air of grace about him when he fights with his sand." Sakura replied.

The Uzamaki nodded. "That's probably why you two work so well together. Your fighting style is similar even if what you use is different."

"I see." Gaara said as the Violet eyed girl's eyes opened and her hands dropped the flames vanishing into thin air.

She dropped to the ground breathing heavily and Sakura reacted quickly leaping over the bar separating the seats from the training field and sprinting to the girl's side.

"Are you alright?" she asked quickly pressing her fingers to the girl's wrist to check her heartrate.

"I'm fine." Onchou replied panting. "I just overdid it a little." She said. "Thanks for worrying about me."

In the stands the men watched and Sasuke shook his head. "It doesn't matter if it's in the middle of the battle field or the middle of the street, if someone falls down, she has to rush in expecting the worst." He remarked.

"That's part of what makes her such a great medical ninja." Naruto replied.

A few feet away from the leaf shinobi and Kazekage, a group of young men gathered talking amongst themselves.

"Did you see that purple haired chick?" One of them said. "She was smoking! And I'm not just talking about the fire." He said with a wink.

"I know right?!" Another one exclaimed. "I swear, her legs go on for miles! So sexy!" he growled.

Gaara stiffened next to the Uzamaki and he noticed sand beginning to swirl around the Kazekage as the boys spoke.

"Calm down." Sasuke said softly. "They're just a bunch of idiots."

"Yeah. They're not worth it." Naruto agreed putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I don't know. That pink haired chick is pretty cute too." Another one of the boys said touching his chin. "I mean, don't get me wrong, that purple haired girl is hot but the pink haired one has more of the girl next door vibe."

"It's true." Another agreed. "I bed she's one of those that acts all innocent in public but is actually a total freak behind closed doors."

Naruto felt the air beside him rise ten degrees as Sasuke glared at the teenagers his eyes blood red.

"Remember what you said Sasuke." Sai said softly.

"Yeah. They're not worth it." Naruto reminded his friends.

"Hey, you know what's an even better thought?" one of them said. "Both of them together! The sexy exotic one and the hot innocent one, then you wouldn't have to choose."

"Sai. Help me." Naruto replied as the sand in the air became thicker and the heat continued to rise. "Those idiots are worse than pervy sage."

"I think Onchou is on her feet again." Sai said looking down at the field. "Maybe you two should find out from them what we should do for lunch today?"

Sasuke and Gaara stilled the flames in the Uchiha's hands vanishing and the sand swirling around the Kazekage dropping to the ground as they turned their attention to the girls moving towards the edge of the field.

"Right." Sasuke said walking towards the girls.

"Good idea." Gaara replied moving as well at a slightly slower pace.

"Phew!" Naruto exclaimed wiping the sweat from his brow. "That was close."

"Yes it was." Sai replied.

The pair of ninja walked up to the knot of boys.

"Hey guys?" Naruto said waiting until they focused their attention on him.

"Yeah, what is it?" One replied.

"Just a word of advice. You might want to keep talk like that behind closed doors." He said.

"Why would we do that?" another replied.

"Yeah, we can talk about what we want where we want." One protested.

"You're right." Sai replied. "However how people react to what you say is a different matter."

"Yeah, and you should probably pay better attention to your surroundings." He said motioning to where Sasuke was standing next to Sakura his hand resting on the top of her head. She had her arm wrapped around Onchou's waist supporting her and smiled up at the Uchiha a little blush coloring her cheeks as she talked to him. Opposite of them Gaara stood next to Onchou his hand in hers as he went to pull it over his shoulders and support her. The violet haired girl had a sheepish smile on her face her cheeks coloring as she nodded in response to what the Kazekage was saying.

The group of boy's eyes widened in horror. "Oh crap." One of them whimpered. "Weren't Lord Kazekage and Master Sasuke Uchiha standing here a moment ago?"

"Do you get it now?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. Sorry. We'll be better from now on." Another replied before the group took off.

"What a bunch of idiots." The Uzamaki remarked.

"You were like that once too you know." Sai said as they walked down to there the rest of their group was waiting.

"Hey, coming up with sexy jutsu is one thing, openly talking about two girls like that in front of their men is on a totally different level of stupid." He retorted.

That evening, the leaf shinobi accompanied by Ryuu and Onchou walked down the streets of Suna their bellies full and happy talking with one another about their days.

"Did you hear that there's a music group performing in the main village square tonight?" Sakura asked as they watched. "The musicians are originally from The Land of Ogres and they're supposed to be really good."

"That sounds like fun!" Ryuu exclaimed. "We should go! I know Onchou and I love to dance." He said nudging the violet haired girl with his elbow.

"That's true." She agreed. "But only if everyone else wants to go as well."

"It'll be a blast! We're totally going!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Even if we said no, you'd made us go anyway." Sasuke remarked with a sigh.

"It's true." Sai replied.

The group neared the place where the band was preparing to sing and Onchou's eyes widened.

"Wait! We know these guys, right Onchou?" Ryuu said from beside her.

"Yes we do." She replied. "It's Fifield and his band."

The lead singer, a tall, lanky young man with light brown hair and hazel eyes turned at the sound of his name and then smiled as his eyes found Onchou and Ryuu in the crowd.

"Onchou!" he called bounding off the stage and rushing up to her. "It's been too long! I've been so worried about you!" he exclaimed wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her tightly.

She returned his embrace and smiled warmly. "I know." She agreed. "It's so good to see you again Fifield." She said as he released her. "I wasn't expecting to run into you here." He leaned forward and planted a kiss on each of her cheeks surprising the ninja. Onchou didn't even flinch though she didn't return the gesture.

He nodded and leaned down ruffling Ryuu's hair. "It's crazy!" he admitted. "I'm really so glad to see you both." He glanced around at her company. "Who are these people?" he asked.

"These are my… friends." She said decided that word was better than guard or companions. "This is Sai." She said motioning to the palest shinobi. "He's an artist."

"Nice to meet you." Fifield said extending his hand to the painter.

"Nice to meet you too." Sai replied.

"This young lady is Sakura Haruno." She said motioning to the pink haired medic.

"The famous medical ninja." Fifield said taking Sakura's hand and kissing it. "It's an honor to meet you in person milady."

Sakura blushed and then blinked. "Why thank you." She said nervously.

Onchou quickly moved on in the introductions. "This is Sasuke Uchiha." She said motioning to the raven haired shinobi who was unsure whether he should be threatened by the musician in front of him or not.

"I've heard of you too." Fifield replied extending his hand. "The last of your clan. That's something you and Onchou have in common. I'm glad she has someone she can relate to like you around."

"Thank you." Sasuke replied surprised by the man's response to him. Most strangers were afraid of him but not this one.

"Last but not least, this is Naruto Uzamaki." The violet haired girl said motioning to the blonde shinobi.

"I'm very pleased to meet you." Fifield replied with a warm smile. "Stories of your heroics continue to amaze me. I'm so lucky to have met you in person." He turned to the violet haired teen. "I really am happy to have run into you again. I understand why you had to leave us but it was still hard to let you go."

"I know." She replied. "I'm really sorry but we were able to meet again."

"I know! For old time's sake, why don't you come up on stage and play with us again?" he suggested.

The amethyst eyed girl blinked in surprise before blushing. "Oh, I don't know Fifield." She replied.

"Oh common!" he insisted. "It'll be great!"

"I haven't seen you perform in a while." Ryuu replied. "I'd like to see it again." He said with a smile.

She glanced back and forth between the two and then sighed in defeat. "Fine I'll sing but only one song."

"Five." Fifield countered.

"No way! Two." She argued.

"Four." The musician replied.

"Three and that's final!" she exclaimed folding her arms over her chest.

The tall young man grinned. "Excellent! Let's get you ready to go on stage!" he said grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. "I mean seriously! You can't wear something like this to perform in!" he said motioning with exaggerated disgust at her simple outfit consisting of a short sleeved black shirt and red pants with her silver belt.

"I'll get you for this Ryuu." She threatened as the musican dragged her away.

He grinned in response and the leaf ninja looked at him expectantly.

"Ok, explanation time." Sasuke said. "Who is that guy?"

"Are you jealous of that kiss Scary Eyes?" the child teased. When the Uchiha's eyes flashed dangerously he held up his hands. "Don't be, he does that to every girl he meets. I think it's a tradition from his home land." He replied. "Anyway, after Onchou and I first ran off, we ran into them. He let us travel with his band." He explained. "We left when the beasts started popping up. Onchou was afraid it might be linked to Takuma and didn't want to put them in danger."

"I see." Naruto said. He glanced up at the Kazekage's building situated nearby and noted the light on in Gaara's office. "I hope Gaara gets to come hear Onchou sing. I know I'm looking forward to it."

Gaara sighed as he trudged through his paperwork. The end was in sight. He could count the number of documents that needed is seal and signature with one hand. Then he could go home and talk with Onchou before actually getting into bed before midnight for once.

"Almost there." Kankuro remarked seemingly on a similar wavelength as his brother. The puppet master glanced out the window. "Did you hear about the concert tonight?" he asked as muffled music filtered through the walls of the building as the concert started up.

The Kazekage nodded. "I approved it a week ago." He remarked. "They're a pretty popular band it seems. I think the woman who submitted the request squealed with delight as soon as she left my office with the paperwork approving their entrance to the Village." He murmured.

The older ninja chuckled and then moved closer to the window. "Is that who I think it is?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Gaara replied scanning through the document in front of him. There was only this one and one more to go.

"I think Onchou is on stage with the band." Kuro remarked.

The Kazekage arched a brow in response and stood up to look out the window himself. Though it was a fairly large distance, he recognized the girl on stage with a mic set up in front of her while her fingers brushed at the strings of the electric guitar in her hands.

"Did you know about this?" Kankuro asked.

Gaara shook his head. "I knew that she could sing but I didn't know she had any connection with this band."

The puppet master quickly pushed Gaara away from the window to his desk. "Hurry and get this done." He instructed. "I know you're dying to go see for yourself and I'm pretty interested myself."

The Leaf ninja watched with pleasant surprise as Onchou stepped on stage. Her clothes had been changed out and now she wore a pair of black slacks, and a ruffled sleeveless white top. Chucky silver bangle bracelets shimmered at her wrists and her hair was pinned back away from her face. Neon yellow pumps adorned her feet and she smiled as her fingers moved over the guitar strings and she sang along with Fifield.

"Good morning and goodnight. I wake up at twilight. It's gonna be alright. We don't even have to try it's always a good time!" she sang raising her hands in the air as she moved on stage grinning at her on stage partner who smiled back.

"She's really good." Naruto said with a smile.

"I'm surprised." Sakura said moving to the beat of the music.

"Onchou is really good at this." Ryuu proclaimed proudly as he jumped along to the beat. "This is one of my favorite songs." He confessed shaking his hair in rhythm to the music.

The song ended and the group bowed. Onchou set down the electric guitar and reached for an acoustic. Fifield moved to the keyboard as she adjusted the mic.

"I want to dedicate this next song to a couple friends of mine who have helped me so much lately." She said. "Without them, I wouldn't be here so here you go guys. If you waste this opportunity I'll curse you forever." She warned even as she smiled.

The music started and a slow, sweet, melody flowed from the piano and guitar.

"A slow song?" Naruto remarked. "I'm out of here. You're coming with me." He said grabbing Sai and Ryuu by the collars of their shirts. "Protect me from those fan girls!" he instructed glancing at the hungry looking young women milling about. "My heart only beats for Hinata!"

"We know that." Sai replied.

"Yeah, but they don't!" the blond exclaimed dashing away from the girls who were dying to dance with the war hero.

Sakura blushed and Sasuke groaned looking down at the ground. "This feels like a set up." He muttered.

"Is that bad?" she replied "It's just dancing."

He shrugged and then blushed "It wouldn't be if I knew how." He muttered.

The pink haired girl chuckled softly. "That's alright. I can teach you." She said. "I taught Ino how to bring a fish back to life so this is nothing." She said putting her hand in his and pulling the other to her waist. "Just move in a circle." she instructed. "It's not too complicated." She assured him. After they established a rhythm, she sighed and moved closer resting her head on his chest. "Well, I can check this item off my wish list." She said with a smile.

Sasuke smiled back and rested his chin on the top of her head as they moved. He'd never imagined that there would come a time where he'd be dancing with her like this but here he was. It was a new experience filled with warmth and tenderness, two things he hadn't experienced much of over the past few years of his life. He decided that if the world suddenly ended, he really wouldn't mind as long as she was in his arms until the last moment.

"Ah I love this part of the song." She murmured. "It matches how I feel so well."

The dark haired Uchiha shifted his focus and listened carefully to the words. "I have died every day waiting for you. Darling don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years. I'll love you for a thousand more. And all along I believed I would find you. Time has brought your heart to me. I have loved you for a thousand years. I'll love you for a thousand more."

His heart warmed at the words even as a pang of guilt throbbed within him as well. He pulled her closer and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I'm sorry for making you wait so long."

"It's alright." She replied. "I really would've waited forever if that's what it took."

He smiled and released her hand to tap her in the middle of her forehead. "That's a little excessive don't you think?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "I don't think so." She replied. "But you didn't make me wait that long so we're good."

He nodded and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Yes we are." He agreed as the music finally came to a stop. They reluctantly pulled apart and Naruto quickly ran up to them.

"You two make me sick, being all lovey dovey like that." He muttered.

"You're just jealous because Hinata isn't here." Sasuke replied.

The Uzamaki sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Along with the fact that I had to spend the entire song dodging fan girls." He muttered.

"Poor baby." Ryuu mocked. "Just tell them to get lost. That's what Sasuke does."

Sakura giggled and the Uchiha shrugged.

"But that's because Sasuke is a mean guy." Naruto argued. "I'm a nice guy so that just doesn't work for me."

"That's true. No one takes it seriously when you say things like that." Sai admitted.

"What's raccoon eyes doing here?" Ryuu asked glancing towards the back of the square.

"Ha! I told you he'd show up!" Sakura exclaimed elbowing Sasuke in the ribs. "You owe me."

The raven haired man winced and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I do." He admitted.

Naruto chuckled. "Of course he showed up. I bet he saw her from his window and then blew through the rest of his work to hurry and get here." He said moving towards the Kazekage.

"What's up Gaara?" Naruto said as he stood beside the sand wielder.

"What is the meaning of this?" the sand wielder replied his arms crossed over his chest as he observed the girl shifting on stage pick up the electric guitar again.

"Ryuu and Onchou used to travel with this band." Sakura explained.

"Yeah, Onchou played on stage with them all the time." Ryuu remarked. "We left them because we were worried Takuma was on to us and just ran into them again."

"Fifield wouldn't let her get away without agreeing to play three songs with him." Sai said glancing at the stage. "This will be song number three."

The amethyst eyed girl began to play and sang into the microphone. As the song progressed her eyes found the group and her gaze found the Kazekage. Her gaze remanded trained on him as she sang.

"Oh no I do not hook up, up I go slow. So if you want me I don't come cheap. Keep your hand in my hand your heart on your sleeve. Oh no I do not hook up, up I fall deep cause the more that you try the harder I'll fight to say goodnight." She sang her lips upturning in a little smile before she turned her gaze to the rest of the crowd and sang the rest of the song. Sakura grinned at the little spark in Gaara's eyes as he watched the violet eyed girl perform. Her gaze once again returned to him as she sang another set of lyrics. "Cause I feel the distance between us could be over with the snap of your fingers!"

Naruto grinned and nudged the Kazekage with his shoulder. "You heard that right?" he whispered in the red head's ear. "She's totally into you."

Ryuu snorted. "Yeah right! She's just putting on an act for the audience."

"Just keep telling yourself that kid." Sasuke replied rolling his eyes when the child glared at him.

The song ended and Onchou bowed. Fifield rose from his spot behind the piano and hugged her. "Let's hear it once more for Miss. Onchou!" he said raising her hand. "Ugh! We miss you! If you ever decide to come back to show business, you'll always have a place here with us."

She smiled and nodded. "Thanks Fifi." She teased. "It was good singing with you again. Now get on with the show!"

"You're right." He replied with a smile as she jumped from the stage. He picked up the guitar she'd been playing and smiled. "Let's keep this part rocking!" he exclaimed as he tapped out the beat for the next song.

The violet haired girl threaded her way through the crows grudgingly accepting their praise and sighing in frustration as a group of young men surrounded her.

"You were so great!" one exclaimed. "I had no idea!"

"Thanks." She replied. "I need to get going though." She said trying to push her way through.

"Do you have to? Come and dance with us." Another protested.

Irritation flared inside her. She knew exactly what their idea of 'dancing' was and she wasn't interested.

"I'm really sorry. Maybe later but I have to go talk to my friend. I need to explain things to him." She said stretching on her tip toes in spite of her sky high heels searching for an escape from the irritating males.

"It looks like Onchou needs a little help." Naruto remarked watching the circle of men around her grow.

"Yeah. Her chakra is starting to flare. They must really be having trouble taking no for an answer." Sasuke remarked.

Gaara sighed. "What a troublesome girl." He muttered, his tone dark before striding across the square.

"Wow." Naruto muttered. "He looks and sounds pissed."

"This is a textbook example of what is commonly referred to as jealously." Sai remarked.

"You would know." Sakura replied.

Ryuu huffed. "I don't mind raccoon eyes saving her this once. I'd just get stepped on if I went over there."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Good for you kid."

Onchou took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she tried to control her temper. She could hear the soul songs of the men pressed around her loud and clear and what they wanted, she was not offering. She needed a way out but using her wind chakra to blow them and their dirty thoughts away would cause much more damage than it was worth. "Only barely." She muttered to herself as one of them brushed not so casually across her back side.

"Please excuse me." A low voice with a deliberate drawl said from just outside the circle.

She knew that voice. It was Gaara and from the sound of it, and his soul song, he was not happy. The group immediately parted and she cringed at the dark look in his eye.

"Lord Kazekage." One of the men stammered. "What brings you here?"

The sand wieldier ignored the man and strode forward without a word and grabbed her by the arm. "Come with me." He said.

She knew by his tone that it was an order not a request and she quickly obeyed following him to the entrance of an alleyway that connected the main square to one of the smaller shopping districts.

"Would you care to explain what's going on here?" he demanded crossing his arms over his chest.

With a sigh Onchou slipped out of the uncomfortable shoes and leaned against the wall. "Ryuu and I used to travel with Fifield and his band right after we first escaped from Takuma." She explained.

"I wasn't talking about that." He retorted sharply. "I was talking about that circle of men."

She blinked in surprise. "They just gathered around me." She replied. "I didn't ask them to or anything."

"Why didn't you move away from them?" he asked.

"I was trying to, but more and more kept coming and I couldn't really force my way through." She replied.

"Why not?" he asked.

She raked her fingers through her hair. "You saw how thick the crowd was. I couldn't exactly just push them out of the way with my wind chakra."

"Yes you could have." He retorted.

"Why are you so angry?" she asked tilting her head to the side slightly.

His brow furrowed in response. "I'm not angry." He replied. She cocked a brow in response. It was obvious by the way he was standing, the sand swirling around him and his soul song that he was angry. She just didn't know why.

"Ok, but you _are_ upset. Why?" she asked.

His eyes narrowed. "Do you have any idea what those guys were thinking? How they were looking at you?" he demanded.

"Yes." She replied. "I can hear things like that."

For some reason instead of calming him like she thought it would, his anger flared and he took a step towards her forcing her to shrink back against the wall. "If you can hear what they're thinking why did you stay there?!" he demanded.

"I was trying to find a way out." She assured him.

"That's not what it looked like to me." He replied.

She sighed. "Seriously, I'm sorry. I knew that if I just pushed past them that it would be giving them exactly what they wanted. A chance to touch me."

He opened his mouth to talk when the sound of shuffling feet startled both of them. A man walked down the alleyway his gait a little rough. His eyes fell upon the couple and he grinned crookedly.

"What a pretty lady." He murmured moving towards Onchou. "Come with me and leave that shorty behind. I'll treat you right." He said his words slurring as he stumbled forward his eyes clouded with lust and alcohol.

Onchou sighed and opened her mouth to decline when Gaara's hands shot out with blinding speed slamming into the wall on either side of her head caging her with his arms. He lowered his head his pale eyes boring into hers with an intensity she'd never seen before that had her breath hitching in her throat. The sand thickened slightly and swirled around them. She trembled as the grains slid over her neck and across the bare skin of her arms her hands flexing instinctively against the stone wall behind him. 'How can just his sand have such an effect on me?' she wondered in her head as he Kazekage moved closer to her until there was only an inch between them and her heart thundered in her chest. His gaze turned murderous as he turned it on the drunk man.

"Did you say something?" he asked his tone darker than she'd ever heard it before.

The man's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards. "L-Lord Kazekage." He stammered his voice shaking in fear. "I-I didn't realize it was you."

"Get lost." Gaara hissed as the sand swirled thicker around the couple.

"Right away." The drunk replied half running half stumbling back the way he came.

With the drunk gone, the sand thinned and he sighed letting his head fall forward his hair brushing her forehead. "I'm sorry about that." He muttered.

"Why? You were just trying to protect me, right?" She replied. It dawned on her then why he was so upset. He felt protective of her. She's spent most of her life protecting her mother from the harsh words of her grandmother, herself from Takuma and his men, and Ryuu from everything. Having someone who not only wanted to protect her but was actively trying to, was a new experience for her. She realized her mistake and smiled at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I'm used to dealing with stuff like this on my own." He glanced up at her and she felt the tension leaving his soul song. Her ears picked up on the beat of the music and she grinned. "Come on!" she said slipping out of his arms and grabbing him by the hand. "I love this song! Let's dance!"

"I don't dance." He replied as he stumbled after her.

"You do now." She said as they joined the rest of their friends in the middle of the dance floor.

Gaara watched as she moved next to Sakura and grinned at the pink haired medic and moved her body to the beat of the music. She reached up and unpinned her hair letting it tumble down her back and shook it loose tossing it with the beat of the music. He couldn't help but smile then as he saw how radiant she was.

Sasuke watched as Saukra moved to the beat of the music with Onchou. Her eyes would occasionally close as she whipped her hair and raised her arms above her head. She bumped into the violet haired girl frequently laughing out loud as she did. The younger girl didn't seem to notice and smiled working to synchronize her movements with the rose haired ninja. Sweat glinted off her in the soft lamp light of the square and she looked innocent, and cute with just a little hint of sexiness as she glanced over at him and winked before returning to her female dance partner.

"I didn't know Sakura was such a great dancer." Naruto admitted.

"Neither did I." The Uchiha replied watching the pair move. "There's a lot of things I don't know about her." He admitted.

"Yeah, but the fun part is finding all those things out." Naruto replied with a wink before he bounded over to join the girls dancing awkwardly so that they laughed.

"I wish I had that kind of confidence." Sai said as Ryuu too joined the group. He linked hands with the two girls and they laughed and moved together making waving movements with their linked arms.

"Agreed." Gaara said standing next to the two raven haired ninja.

"It is nice to watch them like this though. Sakura has been so stressed trying to break down the components of that Black Water stuff she hasn't smiled as much." Sasuke remarked.

"Onchou's seemed pretty troubled by all of the documents she's been writing as well." Sai said.

Gaara cringed a little and then sighed. "Seeing them like is reassuring at least." He remarked.

The Uchiha's eyes once again met the pink haired medics and he smiled. "Yes it is."

The group of Leaf shinobi parted ways with Gaara and his two house guests shortly after the song ended and Sakura smiled as she leaned against Sasuke who has his arm around her shoulder.

"That was so much fun!" Sakura said grinning as she walked.

"It was." Naruto agreed. "Except for the whole getting chased by fan girls thing."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Sai chuckled as they neared their hotel. They walked inside and moved towards the elevators that were pretty busy from guest returning from the concert.

"I don't think the four of us will be able to fit in one." Naruto said glancing around the crowded space.

"It's alright." Sasuke replied. "You and Sai go ahead and get on this one, Sakura and I will wait for the next one."

"Are you sure?" the blonde responded. "You're not going to do anything are you?" he asked.

"In a crowded elevator?" Sasuke replied incredulously. "Common Naruto, not even _you_ would try something like that no matter how willing Hinata was."

The Uzamaki blushed and nodded. "Point taken." He admitted. "See you soon then." He said as he and Sai slipped into the elevator. As soon as the door closed, Sasuke pulled Sakura with him away from the crowd by the elevator.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked. "Didn't you just tell Naruto-"

"That was a lie." He responded quickly. He led them outside and then yanked her up into his arms.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Sakura demanded.

"Just be quiet for a minute." He responded before he leapt into the air and scrambled up the side of the building landing lithely on the roof. "There, much better." He said as he let her down.

"Wow! It's so beautiful up here." She murmured. "The stars are gorgeous tonight."

"They are." Sasuke agreed. "I think you're more beautiful though." The pink haired medic blushed and look away from the Uchiha's warm gaze. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong and that's the whole problem." She admitted. "You've never been this nice to me before and don't get me wrong, I like it, I'm just a little thrown off by it."

He blinked and then smiled as he reached for her. "Sakura." He said softly waiting until her eyes met his. "Do you remember what I said before I left the village after all of that stuff with Kaguya happened?"

"When you decided to go on your journey?" she asked. When he nodded she thought for a moment. "You said your sins had nothing to do with me so I couldn't come with you." She replied.

He sighed and shook his head. "I did say that, but before that, I said that I wanted to see the ninja world with my new eyes." He replied.

"Oh yes. I do remember that." Sakura replied.

He nodded and leaned his forehead against hers. "These new eyes of mine have shown me many things, one of which is you." He said softly.

She blinked in surprise and looked into his eyes. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Before my eyes were always clouded by revenge or darkness. I could see your warmth but I only found it and therefore you annoying because it was a distraction from my goal. Now with that obstacle gone, I can see you for who you really are. Who you've always been." He murmured. "A beautiful, caring, strong, loyal warrior who has unimaginable worth to the world and to me." He said softly. "I'm treating you the way I should've always treated you."

"Sasuke." Sakura replied reaching up to cup his cheek with her hand. "I love you."

"I know." He said grabbing her hand and pressing a kiss to it. "I'm sorry I denied your feelings before. I never realized how genuine they were until that whiskered idiot cut me down to size. I'll have to thank him for that one day." He admitted.

The pink haired medic smiled at him. "Is that why you brought me up here?" she asked. "To tell me that?"

He nodded. "It was part of the reason." He admitted his eyes darkening slightly as he guided her backwards until she was pressed up against the wall of the building covering the stairs that led to the roof. He pressed his lips against hers and stroked his fingers across her neck making her shiver. "I also wanted to be alone with you." He admitted his hands trailing down the curve of her body before coming to rest at her hips gripping them possessively making her jump. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to not whisk you away from the town square and bring you to our room? You looked so tempting dancing there with your hair tangled in the wind and that heat in your eyes when you looked at me." He pressed his mouth to hers again and swept his tongue against the seam of her lips asking for entrance. She opened her mouth in response and his tongue slipped between her lips to move against hers. He pressed his body against hers and slipped one hand under the back of her shirt feeling the hot skin there as his opposite hand slid up to unto the buttons holding her high necked red top in place. When he got past them, he tore his mouth from hers and moved his attention to her neck kissing, licking and nipping at the skin smirking at the whimpers that came from her mouth. He pulled the neck line of her shirt down and focused his attention on her collar bone even as his hand moved up to brush across her chest.

She gasped in response and slipped down against the wall away from his touch. He opened his eyes and flames of desire turned to lightning as he saw the passion burning in her eyes.

"Sasuke." She murmured panting with her top in disarray. He caught a glimpse of red lace and the swell of her chest and groaned grabbing her and pulling her back to him.

"Damn!" he hissed as his hands ran down the length of her back and brushed against her back side. "I wish that blonde idiot and the painter were anywhere else but in our room." He growled as his lips latched onto her neck sucking at a sensitive spot.

"Why?" Sakura managed to ask between gasps. Her fingers left trails of fire on his skin as she slipped her hands under his shirt to caress the muscles of his lower back.

"I want you Sakura." He murmured in her ear before taking her earlobe between his teeth and tugging lightly.

She shuddered in response to his words and he was pleasantly surprised when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face to hers kissing him with passion he didn't know she had even as her hips ground against his. He groaned in response and pressed his fingers into her back as his other gripped her hip tracing the contours of the bone there and tugging at the fabric of her shorts so that she pressed closer to him. His control began to fade as he slipped his fingers inside her shirt to brush against the red lace of her bra and cup her breast in his hand. It was just the right size in his mind and sent a fresh, stronger bold of desire through him. When she moaned at the action and another bolt ran through him, he groaned and removed his hand grabbing her by the shoulder and pushing her away from him.

"We have to stop." He panted.

"Why?" she replied her voice breathless. He glanced at her and immediately regretted it as he took in her ruffled appearance, her kiss swollen lips, and her emerald eyes that still shimmered with passion.

"Because I want to do this properly." He ground out. "Gosh don't look at me like that." He hissed as she licked her lip absent mindedly.

Sakura chuckled and fingered a lock of his hair. "You worry about the silliest things Sasuke Uchiha." She murmured. "But it that's what you want, that's what we'll do." She quickly buttoned up her shirt and adjusted her hair. "We better get back to the others before they come looking for us." He nodded and fixed his own hair when she stretched up on her toes and laid her lips against his ear. "I want you too." She whispered before nibbling on it gently. He groaned in response and captured her lips for another passionate kiss.

"Keep it up and I'll take you right here on the roof you damn, little, tease." He hissed.

She chuckled and smirked. "I won't tease you anymore today." She assured him. "Tomorrow is a different story though." She said with a wink before she pulled him towards the stairs.

He shook his head in response and then followed her down the stairs half dreading and half excited for what the next day would bring.

P.S. Ok. I did it… I'm changing this story's rating to M. I just couldn't resist. Not a lot of action happened in this chapter because I was focusing on their relationships in preparation for the drama, action, and over all darker nature of the next coming chapters. Like I said, I do have a plan and to all my impatient readers, the climax of this arc is coming much sooner than you think. Anyway, enjoy and I'm sorry that it's not meeting everyone's taste. Also the unedited version of this was posted first so please forgive me. Thanks! You guys are awesome!


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: Just to clarify, Lee and Ten-Ten aren't together in my story but they will come with the Rookie 9 to help when it gets closer to the climax of the story. Also the little girl Sasuke saw in his dream was Sarada for those of you who were wondering. I apologize for my spelling errors. I am just a lowly American who can barely spell some English words let alone Japanese words and because I'm a wife and mother I don't have time to look up everything all of the time.

Onchou skimmed over the paper in her hands one last time before putting both it and her brush down with a sigh. She'd finally finished it, her detailed report on all of Takuma's dealings that she knew of including those she herself had taken part of. Her fingers trembled as she willed the tears from falling, it wasn't just the shame of confessing her crimes on paper, but of knowing the person the report was going to was one of the few people in the world she didn't want to hate her.

"Onchou?" Sai said from where he was seated at the table near her desk. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh. No not at all." She replied shaking out her hair. "I just finished writing my report. I'm a little surprised at how big it is." She replied. It wasn't a complete lie. The stack of papers was quite thick surprising almost everyone that saw it. Gaara had asked for all details and she'd provided them so it was only natural.

"You're finished?" he asked standing from his chair as she organized the sheets of paper. She nodded and he helped her put the documents in a folder. "Excellent, let's deliver it now." He suggested.

She cringed at the idea and shook her head nervously. "You can go by yourself right?" she stammered. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to go over there."

"Why not?" he replied. "It's your report, shouldn't you deliver it?"

The violet haired girl sighed and raked her fingers through her hair. "I guess so but the last time I was there I caused a big scene with busting into his office and everything." She muttered.

"Well yes, but you did that to stop the assassination attempt right?" he reminded her. "They couldn't possibly hold a grudge over something like that."

"I don't know. Sasuke seems to hold a little bit of a grudge over how Naruto saved him." She said even as moved with the artist to the door.

"It's not that." Sai protested as he held the door for her. "It's more the fact that their battle proved he's on equal grounds with Naruto."

Onchou sighed and nodded as they walked across Suna to the Kazekage's building.

"Hello Sai." The receptionist said with a flirty smile. "What brings you here?"

"Onchou and I are here to deliver a report to the Kazekage." He replied without skipping a beat.

"Oh, I can take care of that for you." The girl said reaching for the files. Onchou nearly rolled her eyes. The girl just wanted an excuse to see the red head and she knew it from the greedy look in her eyes and her soul song.

"I'm sorry but these documents are classified and have to be delivered in person by Onchou and myself." Sai countered.

"Oh ok." The receptionist replied. "Go ahead then."

"Thank you." He replied before walking with the amethyst eyed girl to the elevator.

They stepped inside and took the lift up to the floor where the Kazekage's office was located and then exited together. After going through security, they approached the door that she'd only gone through once before. She'd been frightened but determined then just like now but in a completely different way.

"Onchou, is everything alright?" Sai asked. "You look pale and appear to be shaking."

"Oh." She replied. "I think I'm just a little tired."

"There's no need to be nervous." The painter replied. "Lord Gaara really cares for you."

"He might not after reading this." She replied softly.

The pale ninja raised an eyebrow at that and then shook his head and knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in." Gaara's voice called out.

Onchou took a deep breath and walked inside the room clutching the thick file containing her report to her chest.

"Sai. Onchou." Kankuro greeted them with a smile. "It's good to see you. Great job at the concert by the way." He said winking at the violet haired girl.

"Oh, thank you." She replied with a shy smile.

"So what brings you here?" he asked.

"Miss Onchou has finished the report Lord Gaara requested." Sai answered motioning to the file in her arms.

"I see." Kankuro said looking at the amethyst eyed girl who had her eyes trained on the ground. "Thank you for all of your hard work. We'll start reviewing it immediately."

She slowly approached the Kazekage's desk and nearly smiled at one of the scratches on it left from her wind chakra. She slowly extended the file to the red haired man her eyes trained on anywhere but his face. "I did my best." She said softly irritated by how much her hands and voice were shaking. "I apologize if I left anything out or if it's difficult to read."

Gaara's hands reached for the file and took it gently from her hands. He opened it thumbed through it quickly before laying it on the desk.

Onchou felt like her heart was going to thunder right out of her chest and the desire to run from the room had tears stinging her eyes. Her hands balled into fists at her side as she bowed to the pale eyed shinobi in front of her. "I'll take my leave now." She stammered.

"Onchou." Gaara said softy as she turned to walk away. "Look at me."

She cringed at his request and lifted her eyes to his hating the tears that threatened to fall as his blue green eyes met hers.

"I know that this was a difficult task for you." He said. "Thank you very much for completing it. I promise you that your efforts will not be in vain. Please take the remainder of the day to rest."

"Ok." She replied quietly. "Thank you for that." She said bowing once more before she left the office with Sai at her side.

"Onchou looked awful." Kankuro said after the door closed behind them. "I don't think I've ever seen her that pale even when she was in the hospital."

"I'm not surprised, given the circumstances." The Kazekage replied opening up the file and picking up the first page.

"What do you mean?" Kuro asked. "What report is that anyway?"

"It's a report detailing all of Takuma's criminal acts, experiments, and all of his know associates." Gaara replied.

The puppet master's eyes widened and then fell as it dawned on him what that meant. "I understand. I can't imagine how tough that must have been." He acknowledged. "To write down everything that your captor did and made you do must be awful."

The Kazekage nodded and sighed. "It had to be done." He murmured.

"I bet it's even harder for her because she knows you're the one who's going to be reading it." Kankuro murmured. "It's clear to me that she cares about what you think of her and having all of her 'sins' on display for you must really be eating at her." He glanced down at his little brother. "You better make this up to her."

Gaara nodded. "I intend to." He said glancing down at the report noting a couple of tear stains on the page in his hands. "Why do you care brother?" he asked.

The sand shinobi smiled. "That girl and Ryuu have grown on me. I can't help but worry about them. Besides, she's brought out a side of you I've never seen before. I kind of like it so I want her to stick around."

The Kazekage glanced at his brother and then shook his head. "Well, shall we get down to business. I sense something strange on the wind and I don't like it." He murmured.

"What do you mean Onchou won't come out of her room?" Sakura asked Ryuu as they sat together along with Naruto and Sasuke under a shade umbrella outside a restaurant.

"She just won't. I stopped by to change my shirt since it got dirty when we played in the sand dune park and she wouldn't come out and talk to me." The child said with a long suffering sigh. "Sai said that she's been like since she gave her report to raccoon eyes. I haven't seen her like that since Akira died."

"I think I might have an idea of what's wrong." Sakura said after a few moments. "That report was the one Gaara asked for containing all of the information she had on Takuma and his organization right?"

The shinobi around then nodded and Sasuke's eyes widened as he followed her train of thought. "That means she had to write down not only the incidents she was involved in but probably her exact involvement in them." He replied.

"She's probably terrified that once Gaara finds out just how much she's done, he might feel differently about her. She's afraid he'll hate her or worse." The pink haired medic mused.

Naruto snorted. "Like that will ever happen. The three of us remember how he was before. There's no way what she did could've done worse than what he did."

Sasuke nodded. "I agree."

"He really was such a little shit back in the day." The Uazmaki muttered with a little chuckle. "She was forced to do that stuff anyway. He knows that too."

"What do you suggest we do?" Ryuu asked. "I don't like seeing her like this. She didn't do anything wrong."

"We know that." Sakura replied. "We're Onchou's friends after all and so is Lord Gaara. We'll figure out a way to help her." She assured him.

The group was startled when Kankuro came running up to them with a box containing his puppet strapped to his back. "I need you to go get your ninja gear and report to the Kazekage's office right away!" he instructed. "Ryuu, you're coming with me. I need you to stay with Temari for a little while."

"Why? What's going on?" Naruto asked getting to his feet.

"A large monster has been sighted in one of the villages nearby. They need our assistance and Lord Gaara thinks it's been summoned by the same person you've been after." He replied.

The Leaf Shinobi suddenly became serious.

"Right." Sakura said her eyes hardening. "Onchou and Sai are at the guest house. You'll want to let them know."

"Onchou has the ability to send back summoned beasts and will be able to tell us if it's the same person who summoned the others." Sasuke said. "We can't leave her behind."

"Understood." Kuro said shortly. "I'll meet you there."

In under half an hour, Team Seven and Onchou assembled in Kazekage's office dressed in their ninja gear and ready to go.

"I assume Kankuro told you of the situation?" Gaara said as he pulled off his robes revealing his own ninja attire complete with the gourd at his hip.

"Yes." Naruto replied. "Are you coming with us?"

Gaara nodded. "I need to see this with my own eyes so that I can better assess the situation." He replied. "Let's get moving. The sooner we get there the better. I don't like the idea of fighting in the dark like we did last time." He turned to Onchou as they left his office and mounted the stairs heading for the roof. "Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Even if I wasn't I'd still go. This beast is likely connected to the others I've been facing and using my power to send it back is easier and safer that everyone here fighting an unnecessary battle."

"Very well." He replied as they walked to the edge of the rooftop. "Kankuro and I will lead the way. Onchou will make up the third member of our team." He instructed. "Let's go!"

The shinobi quickly leapt their way across the rooftops and then sprinted down the long corridor linking Suna to the rest of the desert.

"I'm sorry about this." Gaara said as he fell behind to let his brother lead matching his pace with Onchou's. "I told you that you could rest."

"It's alright." She assured him. "I'd actually rather be out here doing something. Nothing gets rid of depression better than exercise. Beating people up is just a bonus." She said with a little smile as they moved across the desert.

"See?" Sakura said motioning to Onchou and Gaara. "They'll be fine."

"Of course they will." Naruto agreed.

Hours later, with the sun beginning to dip in the sky as evening arrived the shinobi arrived at their destination. Men, women and children ran around the streets screaming as a giant spider the size of a monster truck scuttled through the streets devouring livestock and the occasionally unlucky person.

"Why!?" Onchou cried. "Why did it have to be a giant spider?"

Sakura nodded. "Seriously, the way they move is so freaking nasty!"

"Would you have preferred a blood thirsty pack of wolves?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"Oh yes." Onchou replied at once.

"Definitely." Sakura agreed. "They don't move like that." She said shuddering as the creature clicked its pincers noticing the shinobi.

"So, is this one linked to the others?" Kankuro asked.

The violet haired girl closed her eyes briefly her ears glowing silver and then opened them again. "Yes. The same chakra signature lingers. It was summoned by the same person." She replied.

"Is that person still nearby?" Gaara demanded.

She closed her eyes again and then gasped. "He's very close!" she exclaimed. "He's on his way here too moving fast."

The shinobi shifted into defensive stances as a man materialized on top of the spider's head. "I knew you'd come Princess." He said. "I've been expecting you, though I wasn't expecting you to come with this many companions."

"Kyou." Onchou said softly. "How is it I didn't recognize your song?"

The shinobi frowned and focused on him. Kyou was a man of average height with spiky green hair and blue eyes. He had an athletic build and a pair of massive swords were strapped to his back.

"I've change a lot since our last encounter." He replied with a smile. "I'm not the sniveling coward you met three years ago." He said his eyes blazing. "I'm stronger than ever!"

"There was nothing wrong with the way you were before." Onchou countered.

Kyou laughed. "Listen to you Princess! You're even softer than before. Such a pity."

"How do you know this man?" Sasuke asked.

"How do you think? He was one of Takuma's experiments." She replied. "I only met him once. He spent most of his time in the southern hideout while I was kept at the main laboratory."

"I see." Gaara said. "Leave this village at once!" he called. "You have no business here!"

"Actually I do." Kyou countered. "You see, I was sent on a very important mission by Lord Takuma." He said.

"What mission is that? To cause a ruckus? Because that's what you've been doing." Naruto called out.

"Not exactly. I was sent to retrieve his precious Princess using whatever means necessary." He said pointing at Onchou. "He's got everything set up for his plan you see and you're the last piece of the puzzle. He really needs you now. He said he'll forgive everything if you just come back."

The amethyst eyed girl shook her head. "Did you think telling me that would make me want to go back with you?"

"Onchou isn't going anywhere! She's staying here with us where she belongs!" Naruto shouted.

"What makes you think she belongs with you?" Kyou replied. "Do you have any idea what this girl is really like?"

"We know Onchou. She's our friend." The blonde replied. "We're not going to let you late her back to that horrible place."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Such loyalty." He murmured. "Who are you people anyway?"

"I'm Naruto Uzamaki!" the blonde replied.

"Sakura Haruno!" the pink haired medic replied putting on her gloves.

"Sasuke Uchiha." The dark eyed avenger said activating his sharringan.

"Sai." The painter said his hand going to the hilt of his sword.

"Kankuro." Kuro said his fingers tensing as he prepared to use his chakra strings.

"Gaara of the Desert." The red head sand wielder replied sand swirling around him. "Onchou is staying with us."

The man's eyes widened and a little smile touched his lips. "The Kazekage huh? No wonder you want her. The famous war heroes from the leaf as well. Perhaps your Hokage wants a piece of her too. " He remarked. "I can't deny it, she is quite desirable. All of that raw power and natural talent wrapped up in that gorgeous body." He sighed. "I can't deny that I've wanted you from the day I laid eyes on you. If you want, you can come with me instead of going back to Takuma. I can use you better than he can."

Sand wrapped around the man and lifted him from the spider's head and slammed him to the desert floor.

"She's not an object! She's a person! You don't use people like that!" Naruto roared his chakra flaring making his hair shift.

Kyou chuckled and staggered to his feet. "You're only saying that because you've never witnessed her true power. Once you see it, all of you especially the Kazekage will want to use her like the tool she is. A beautiful tool, but still a tool."

"I'm sick of hearing you talk!" Onchou shouted rolling up her sleeves and looking at the spider. "I'm going to send this ugly thing back now unless anyone has an objection."

"Go ahead." Naruto replied. "We can take out this guy while you do your thing. He's really pissing me off!"

"Come now. I'm just being honest." Kyou replied. "Besides, you didn't think I came alone did you?" he made a motion with his hand and a mass of men came forward.

"How many are there?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

Using his advanced sight he quickly swept the crowd. "Four hundred men." He replied.

"Nothing we can't handle." The Uzamaki replied cracking his knuckles. "Just focus on that mass of ugly. We've got this." He called out to Onchou.

"Right." She said bringing her palms together. "Let's make this quick. I'm already ready to go home."

"Home?" Kyou echoed softly before laughing. "The only home that you will ever have is with Takuma or myself."

"Seriously. Let's shut this guy up." Sakura said balling her hand into a fist.

"With pleasure." Sasuke said as black flames sprung to life in his hands.

Onchou leapt into the air and flipped forward flattening her palm against the head of the massive spider and pushed with her chakra marking it with a seal. She scurried down its back and landed behind it quickly leaping back when it tried to stab her with its stinger. Her eyes closed as she focused her chakra and her ears shimmered silver. "Arachne." She murmured softly.

The spider froze at the sound of its name and studied her with its multiple eyes as its pincers clicked.

"I understand. You don't want to be here either so let's make this quick for both of our sakes." She said focusing her chakra to make a staff in her hand planting it in the ground in front of her.

"It looks like Onchou's already started on her barrier!" Naruto called out using a rasingan to take out a group of men.

"Does she need any help?" Kankuro called out as he directed his puppet against a couple of swordsmen.

"Just keeping these guys out of her hair is what she needs." Sakura replied slamming her fist into the face of her opponent and knocking him back into the crowd.

Gaara directed his sand forward taking out several attackers and watched out of the corner of his eye as Onchou set up five stakes and then focused her chakra and used all five chakra natures in turn to set up her barrier.

Sai drew up a mass of lions and sent them into the fray taking out several soldiers. He drew his sword and clashed with another. "Simpleton." He remarked before tripping the man and driving his blade into the man's back.

"Damn! She's faster than I thought." Kyou muttered moving towards her with his hand on the hilt of one of his swords.

She pressed her palms together as a tear began to form in the sky above the spider her brow creasing with effort as the seal glowed and the beast began to rise into the sky.

"Shit!" Naruto hissed as he blocked an oncoming blow with a kunai. "Someone stop him! She can't defend herself right now!"

"I'm on it!" Kankuro replied directing his puppet so that it stood between him and Onchou. "You have to get through me first." He said as he urged his human looking puppet forward crossing blades with the man.

"Almost there." Onchou hissed as the spider neared the hole. "Thank you for being cooperative Arachne. You've made me change my opinion on spiders."

The beast clicked it's pincers in response and then vanished through the portal. The violet haired girl quickly sealed in shut and collapsed onto the sand floor.

"She got it!" Sakura called out.

"Well done." Sai said as ink snakes wrapped about his opponent sending him falling to the desert floor.

Sasuke nodded and turned his eyes to his opponents. "Now let's clean up here so we can go back" he said forming hand signs. "Fire lotus jutsu!" he exclaimed throwing the flames and shuriken within them at the soldiers advancing him.

"You are so pathetic!" Kyou called out as he dueled with Kankuro's puppet. "In the past you would've tamed that beast and then used it against your enemy! What's wrong with you?!" he demanded.

Onchou struggled to her feet and blocked an attack aimed at her by one of Kyou's men. "I keep telling you people. I wasn't with Takuma willingly. I was never that kind of person. I just acted that way to survive. Now that I'm free, I'm being the person I really am."

Kyou kicked the puppet back and growled in frustration. "Lies! I'll just have to remind you what kind of person you really are!" he snarled pulling something from his pocket.

Her eyes widened as she recognized it. She crouched down her eyes focused on it. "Try it!" she challenged. "I'll never let it touch me."

"Who said I was going to use it on you?" he replied turning. "The Kazakage, he seemed rather protective of you. I wonder if there's a deeper meaning behind that. It sort of reminded me of how Akira was around you. Shall we test it?" he said as he aimed the weapon at the sand wielder battling nearby.

"Damn you, Kyou!" Onchou cried out as she moved with lightning speed towards the Kazekage knocking him to the ground even as the dart pierced her skin sinking into the flesh of her shoulder.

"Onchou." Gaara said looking up at her.

"Sorry. We always seem to end up like this." She said with a small smile on her lips. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Are you?" he asked.

She gasped and gritted her teeth as the medication raced through her veins. "No. I'm not." She replied staggering away from him.

"Gaara! Onchou! What happened?" Kankuro demanded running forward towards the violet haired girl as she fell to her knees.

"Get back!" she shouted her voice coming out a little distorted as she ripped the needle from her skin tossing it to the desert floor.

"What's going on?" Sakura exclaimed quickly scooping it up.

"Don't touch that!" Onchou screamed as she fell forward her hands clawing at the ground. "You have to get away from me now!"

"What's going on!?" Naruto demanded.

Suddenly, Onchou became quiet and rose from the sand with liquid grace her head bowed and her hair shielding her face from view. Low sultry laughter tumbled from her lips as she straightened to her full height, making the shinobi shift uncomfortably. As they watched, the color vanished from her hair starting at the roots changing from violet to stark white and her fingernails elongated as her fingers flexed.

"Tell me what's going on." Sai demanded joining the group.

"Her chakra has changed." Sasuke said softly. "It's been tainted with evil."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "How can that be?"

"It must be whatever was in this vial." Sakura said putting inside her pouch. "She seemed to know it was coming too. We need to proceed with caution."

Onchou's head suddenly snapped back revealing her lips that were curled up into a sneer her eyes now black with red slits where the pupils had been. She lifted her hand looking at it with curiosity and stroked her face before she chuckled.

"Kyou you naughty boy." She said her voice low and sultry. "You stole this from Takuma's laboratory didn't you?" she sauntered towards him her usually fluid, graceful gate now a seductive sway.

The man grinned at her a little blush coming to his cheeks. "I did." He replied. "This is how I remember you. You look just like an angel like this." He murmured. "An angel of death ready to bestow her righteous judgement on this world."

"I see." She replied reaching for him. "You want me that badly?" she said trailing two finger tips up his throat.

"I do." He replied. "You power, your beauty, all of it." He whimpered.

Onchou chuckled again. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you this but there's a reason Takuma never let anyone else use this particular drug on me." She whispered. She suddenly grabbed him by the throat her nails digging into the skin as she dragged him towards her. "I can't be tamed." She hissed before slamming him forward into the mass of soldiers.

"Onchou! This isn't like you! Snap out of it!" Sakura yelled.

The white haired girl glanced back at her with her devilish eyes gleaming and the medic staggered backwards. "It's the same." She murmured.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"When Naruto and you transformed. You both gave me that same look. I don't think she'll hurt us as long as she doesn't see us as the enemy but we need to be careful." She said.

"How do we bring her back?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't know." She admitted. "It depends on the potency of the drug and her own will power."

"Can you counteract it?" Gaara asked.

Sakura shook her head. "Not like this. I don't know what was in that drug and I don't have a way to find out right now."

"Damn! What do we do?" Naruto asked.

"Stay out of her way and try to contain her at the first opportunity." Sai replied.

"Get her!" Kyou rasped grasping at his bleeding neck. "Pin her down!" he commanded his men.

They rushed forward and Naruto moved to intervene but Sasuke grabbed his shoulder. "Don't. If you get in the middle, things will get complicated. I can see her chakra flaring too. She can take care of herself in this state I'm sure of it."

Onchou smirked and her ears began to glow shifting from silver, to gold, to blue.

"What is that?" Kankuro asked.

"I have no idea." Naruto replied. "We've never seen it before."

The girl began to sing weaving a haunting melody into the air using words that the shinobi didn't understand but made the hair on their skin stand on end. She extended her long slim hand and a pulse of chakra burst from it and moved towards the crowd. The fifty men closest to her suddenly stopped in their tracks. Onchou smirked and then a series of long high notes flew from her mouth and the men dropped to the ground holding their ears as they screamed.

"What is that?" Naruto demanded.

"Incredible." Sasuke murmured. "She cast a genjutsu on all of them using her voice."

"No way! Can you cast a genjutsu that wide?" Sakura asked.

The Uchiha shook his head. "No. It's no wonder her clan could fight on par with mine."

The girl flexed her fingers and the men screamed once more, then went still.

"How… how did you?" Kyou stammered.

"Come now. You knew I was called The Princess of Death." She murmured. "Did you really expect anything different?" she said as she drew a kunai in one hand and took her sword in the other. "Now, who else wants to dance?" she asked.

The shinobi watched in horror as she decimated the small army using her swords and her chakra to slaughter everyone in her path.

"What do we do?" Kankuro asked. "She can't go on like this."

"Onchou! Snap out of it!" Naruto exclaimed running after her.

She ignored him as she electrocuted a line of men and then reduced another to ash.

"That's right. This is your true nature." Kyou murmured. "So graceful even while delivering death."

"You're insane!" Naruto growled. "How can it be her true nature if you had to use a drug to get her into that state?!" he roared using a rasingan on the man and knocking him back several feet. "Who do you think you are messing with people's lives like that huh!?"

"Onchou! Stop! It's enough!" Sakura called out rushing after the teenaged girl. "You don't have to do everything on your own!"

The white haired girl whirled around. "Alone! Always alone!" she screeched pressing her hands to her head.

"Onchou! We're your friends. Let us help you." Sasuke said moving to stand next to the medic. The girl froze and looked at him her eyes briefly flickering back to purple. "It's working. Keep talking to her!" he called out.

"Onchou, we need you to listen to us." Sai called out.

"Come back to us Onchou!" Kankuro said moving towards her. "There are still so many things about the sand village you haven't seen yet. Don't you want to see it?"

"You're wasting your breath." Kyou rasped as he staggered to his feet. "Only Takuma and Akira could control her in that state."

"We're not trying to control her!" Sakura spat. "Akira wasn't either! He was trying to bring her back to her senses because he loved her just like we do!"

"Love?" the girl repeated her eyes flashing purple again.

"That's right." Sakura replied. "We love you Onchou. Come back to us."

"Yeah! We're not leaving without you!" Naruto exclaimed.

The girl began to shake tearing at her own hair as she shrieked. "Please, just go." She whimpered her eyes amethyst as she spoke. "I don't want to hurt you." Another wave hit her and her eyes went black again and a blast of wind chakra flew from her knocking the shinobi back.

Sakura cringed as she got back to her feet with Sasuke's help. "Damn! We were so close too." She muttered as the girl finished off the men with Kyou and turned her attention to the shinobi.

"What do we do now?" Sasuke asked.

The pink haired medic's eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. "She said someone's song snapped her out of her dark place before right?" she said.

"I think I know who's it was." She murmured before turning to face the Kazekage. "Gaara! Talk to her!" she shouted. "I think your voice will be able to reach her."

The sand wielding shinobi blinked in surprise and then thought for a moment. "Onchou!" he called out. The white haired girl turned to look at him. "You said once that the Queen's duty is to protect the King. What are you doing now?" he asked.

Onchou froze in her tracks her eyes flickering from black to amethyst. "Protect." She repeated.

"That's right." He replied. "Isn't there someone you swore to protect? He needs you. Ryuu needs you."

"Ryuu." She whimpered as tears filled her eyes. In a flash she pulled a kunai from the pouch on her let and twirled it twice around her finger before she plunged the blade into the flesh right above her hip bone.

"Onchou!" Kankuro cried out.

"Wait!" Sakura said holding out her arm. "I've seen this work before. Just wait."

The bronze skinned girl groaned and then fell to her knees. "I have people I must protect." She ground out through her clenched teeth. "I will protect them no matter what!" she screamed as she forced all of the tainted chakra to the surface of her being and released it in a ball of angry black and red energy that soared high into the sky and then exploded.

The shinobi watched anxiously as the white in her hair was replaced by vibrant violet and her eyes opened revealing brilliant amethyst with flecks of blue, green, pink and violet near the pupil. She looked at the shinobi standing nearby, then at Naruto who had Kyou by the collar of his shirt.

The Uzamaki smiled warmly at her. "Atta girl. Welcome back." He said.

She smiled weakly in response. "Yeah. Thank you." She murmured before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward.

Sasuke, the fastest of the group flashed forward catching her just before she hit the ground. "Hey. You didn't have to go and stab yourself, idiot." He scolded as he eased her down to the desert floor.

"Shut it you stupid Uchiha. I'm sure you've done it before too." She replied a weak smile tinging her lips.

His mind briefly went back to when he was in the forest of death a stabbed himself in the leg to force himself to move after being attacked by Orochimaru. "You're right." He replied.

Sakura rushed to her side and pressed her fingers to the girl's throat feeling for her pulse. "I really don't like that rhythm." The murmured. "Sasuke, get her turned over so she's face up." She instructed pulling off her belt and digging into her medical supply bag. With expert skill, she removed the girl's jacket and cut away part of her shirt so she could better see the kunai and its placement. She gently probed the stab wound with her fingertips and shook her head. "You had to pick that spot. It causes an intense amount of pain for sure but it can be fatal you reckless girl."

Onchou shrugged apologetically. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Obviously! Now please try to stay still. This is going to hurt. I'm going to pull out the blade while healing you simultaneously." She said placing one hand on the girl's hip to hold her down and funnel her chakra into the girl's system. "You've got to be kidding me!" The medic groaned after a few seconds.

"What's the problem?" Kankuro asked kneeling beside her.

"Her chakra network is so raw I'm having trouble getting my own to flow into her." She muttered.

"What does that mean?" Sasuke asked.

"It means I can't do much about the damage. I can only stop the bleeding I won't be able to close the wound fully." She gritted her teeth. "I don't even know if removing the knife is the right move now. She might bleed out before I get a chance to close her up." She slammed into her fist into the ground. "Damn it!"

"Sakura! What's going on!?" Naruto demanded.

"What should I do?" she muttered. A thought occurred to her and she quickly bit her thumb and slammed it to the ground. "Summoning jutsu!" she exclaimed.

A small slug appeared on the ground near her. "Hello Sakura dear. How can I help you?" Katsuyu asked.

"I'm going to remove this knife from this girl's abdomen. A drug I don't know anything about was injected into her and her chakra system is shot. I need you to help me sustain her life if I'm not able to seal the wound and work on cleansing her blood of any foreign chemicals." Sakura said tying her hair back.

"Of course. Whenever you're ready." The slug replied crawling onto the girl's stomach.

"Sai!" she called out.

"Yes Sakura." He replied.

"Get two of your ink birds ready. This girl needs to be returned to the village the moment I get this knife out of her." She ordered.

"Understood." He replied sitting down and preparing his scroll and brush.

"Are you ready?" Sakura asked the girl.

Onchou glanced around and her eyes found the Kazekage. "Gaara." She said softly. His eyes found hers and she extended her hand towards him. "I hate to ask, but will you stay by my side just until she's finished."

The sand wielder nodded and knelt down beside her and she reached for his hand. When she had it held firmly in hers she nodded. "Ok Sakura." She whispered.

Sakura nodded and held the girl's hip down with one hand pouring her chakra into her battered body as she slowly pulled the blade from her.

Onchou gasped in pain her head arching back as her free hand dug into the sand. Her eyes shut tightly as she whimpered a little sob bubbling in her lips. "I'm so sorry." Sakura said softly. "Just hold on a little longer."

The girl could only groan in response as the medic continued keeping her hand steady. "Nearly there." She muttered. "Got it!" she exclaimed as she pulled the blade free and tossed it aside. "Lady Katsuyu!"

"Right!" the slug said moving to cover the spot. "Her body is rejecting something horrid." She murmured. "Quickly bandage her up! I'll keep this spot sealed."

"Thank you." The medic replied wrapping the white fabric around her patient. The girl suddenly arched up a strangled cry falling from her lips as her body convulsed.

"What is this!?" Sakura demanded.

"It seems to be a side effect of the drug." The slug replied. "She needs fluids and a blood transfusion quickly. Anything to get this out of her."

"Right! Sasuke! Get Onchou onto one of those birds. You and Sai are with me!" she called out as Sai created the birds. "Kankuro, you and Gaara take care of what you need to here." Her gaze fell on the Uzamaki. "Naruto."

"Get out of here! You don't have to say it. I already know." He replied.

She nodded and leapt onto an ink bird that Onchou was lying on with while Sai and Sasuke took the other. They soared out of sight in the direction of the Village Hidden in the Sand.

"Come back here!" Kyou exclaimed kicking Naruto in the chest to force him off. He jumped to his feet and formed hand signs. "Sone column jutsu!" he exclaimed creating a series of the obstacles in the way of the retreating ninja.

"No you don't!" Naruto exclaimed forming signs of his own. A ball of air appeared in his hand. "Rasinshuriken!" he yelled as he threw the attack and sliced through the columns. "Are you an idiot!?" he demanded slamming his fist into the man's face. "Don't you realize the gravity of the situation?! She's dying you idiot! All because of you!"

Gaara stood his eyes cast on the horizon as the ink birds vanished on the horizon.

"Brother. I'll take care of things in this village. You do what you need to." Kankuro said tapping him on the shoulder.

The Kazekage lowered his head once and the puppeteer quickly strode away. He turned and knelt down in the spot where Onchou had laid only moments before and his eyes narrowing at the sight of the sand there stained red with her blood. It more than angered him, it enraged him. She'd already suffered so much and this man had forced her into a corner where the only choices she had was to harm herself or harm her friends and true to her nature, she'd sacrificed herself. The sand around him began to swirl as his gaze fell upon the man who was responsible for the terrible state she was in now.

"Naruto." He said softly as a ball of air swirled in the man's hand. "What did Sakura want you to do?" he asked.

The blonde man looked at him his normally bright face dark with anger. "She wants me to give this guy hell for what he did to Onchou." He replied.

"Excellent. That's where I'd like to send this man myself." He replied the sand around him picking up speed.

"You both look so scary." Kyou remarked with a chuckle. "Worried that your weapon of mass destruction is going to die? It's almost like you actually care about that girl."

A blast of sand knocked the man back slamming against a wall remaining from the spider's rampage earlier. Kyou coughed and blood spattered on the ground as he wheezed.

"Keep spouting nonsense and the next blast of sand is going right down your throat so you can't speak again." Gaara threatened his hands clenching and unclenching as his sand moved faster.

"I wouldn't take that threat lightly if I were you." Naruto warned standing beside the sand master.

"Onchou is staying with me in The Village Hidden in the Sand." Gaara declared. "She'll never be touched by the likes of you again."

Kyou laughed as he staggered forward. "You're both fools. That girl is nothing more than a weapon waiting to be used by the right person. You can act noble and self-righteous all you want but in the end all you'll do is use her just like Takuma especially you Lord Kazekage."

"Never!" Gaara shouted slamming the man with a wall of sand. "I would never betray her like that. You'd have to kill me first."

Kyou laughed and then sputtered as more blood poured from his mouth. "It doesn't matter anyway. Takuma will be coming for her soon. He'll never stop hunting her and there's nothing you or the great Village Hidden in the Leaves can do about it. Once he has her, this world as you know it will be destroyed and even the great Gaara of the Desert and Naruto Uzamaki Savior of the World will fall at his feet."

"I've heard enough out of you." Gaara said extending his hand. "Sand coffin!" he growled. The sand swirled around the man and lifted him into the air trapping him in a thick mass of sand. The man's eyes widened as he looked into the Kazekage's ice cold eyes. "What do you prefer? Slow and painful or quick and painless?" he asked as his fingers began to curl in squeezing the man.

"Gaara. Are you sure about this?" Naruto asked.

"His internal injuries are already so severe he won't survive even with Sakura's expert care." The Kazekage replied. "I have Onchou's report on Takuma's exploits in my possession and this man has already revealed more than he was supposed to about their plans. He doesn't have anything more to tell us or he'd be trying to bargain with me for his pathetic life."

Naruto's eyes widened. "How do you know?" he asked.

"I've killed far more people in my lifetime than you have." Gaara replied simply before directing his attention back to the man hovering in the air. "What's it going to be?" he demanded.

"Do what you want. If I can't have her, my life isn't worth living." Kyou muttered.

"Very well then." The Kazekage replied. "Naruto, go see if Kankuro needs any help. We're leaving once I finish up here."

"Yeah. Sure." Naruto replied understanding the true meaning behind his friend's words. He quickly moved towards the village herding all lingering villagers away from where the sand wielder lingered with his prey.

"Naruto. How are things going?" Kankuro asked as he urged the last remaining children towards the village center.

"Gaara is about to finish things up." Naruto replied.

"I see." Kuro said glancing in the direction where his brother was.

"He'll be alright won't he?" The Uzamaki asked.

"As long as Onchou manages to survive, he'll be fine." Kankuro replied. "Sakura has brought both of us back from death's door. I'm sure Onchou will be the same."

"Yeah. I hope you're right. For Ryuu's sake and for Gaara." He murmured.

"How considerate of you to clear out all of the nosy villagers before you take care of me. What a wonderful Kazekage you are." Kyou mocked. "Going to all this trouble over a beautiful monster like her. You must be one yourself."

"You're right." Gaara said his eyes darkening. "Sand Burial!" he growled clenching is fist and reducing the man to nothing but clumps of flesh and blood that rained down on the desert. With quick and steady strides he made his way to the village center.

"Did you take care of what you needed to?" Kankuro said studying him closely.

The Kazekage nodded. "I did."

"Lord Kazekage! Thank you for getting rid of that monster!" a young boy said running up to me. "I want to be a great ninja like you one day!"

"I am not the one who took care of the monster." Gaara replied. "That was the work of another great ninja. If you wish to aspire to be like someone, choose her instead."

"Gaara." Naruto said softly. "Are you alright?"

The Kazekage closed his eyes. "I'm heading back to the village." He declared.

"Wait! We'll come with you!" Naruto exclaimed even as the sand shinobi reduced himself to dust floating away from them and towards The Village Hidden in the Sand.

"We better get going." Kankuro said jumping to his feet.

"Yeah." Naruto said as they sprinted across the desert. "If he's using that method to return to the village, it's obvious that he's not alright at all."

Kuro nodded in agreement. "My thoughts exactly."

Gaara floated along the wind until he reached his destination. With a push of his chakra he materialized just outside the door of the critical care unit of the hospital and strode inside. Onchou was lying in a stark white hospital bed with a mask over her face and IV's hooked up to her hands. Machines beeped around him as he moved to her bedside. She seemed to sense his presence and opened her eyes and immediately focused on his face.

"Gaara." She whispered. "I'm worrying you again. I'm sorry."

"I'm the one that should be apologizing." He replied. "I wasn't able to protect you."

She smiled weakly at him. "The Queen's job is to protect the King remember?" she replied. "I don't regret my actions. I only wish I could've done something to prevent this situation from happening."

"Even so…" he replied. His eyes widened as the monitors attached to her went wild and she arched against the bed her hands clutching the sheets a strangled cry escaping her mouth.

Sakura rushed in with a syringe in her hand and plunged the needle into the girl's arm.

"Lady Katsuyu! Status report!" she exclaimed. The slug's head rose from where she was situated in the hole in the girl's torso.

"We're ready." The slug replied. "She should survive the procedure now."

The pink haired medic nodded and she glanced at the Kazekage. "Lord Gaara." She murmured. "Onchou wouldn't want you to see this. It would probably be best that you leave. I'm sorry." The girl in the bed moaned as her muscles twitched uncontrollably. "Please."

He nodded and strode out of the room glancing back one last time before the door closed. His brow furrowed as he stalked down the hall and out of the hospital. With determined steps he walked to the training grounds and focused his rage and frustration into power as sand began to swirl around him. It quickly thickened gaining speed as his emotions raged forming a twelve foot tall dust devil around him as a cry of frustration left his lips. Again that woman had put her life on the line to protect him. She was on the operating table because of him, suffering because of him. His desire to protect her was stronger than his desire to protect any other person in the world yet she was the one that had fallen. Her blood had stained the sand red in place of his own. The sand twister grew as his emotions crashed within him threatening to overtake him and send him spiraling into darkness.

"Gaara!" a voice called to him. He knew it well. That same voice had pulled him from the void before.

"Naruto." He murmured reaching for the light his first and most trusted friend provided. The sand around him stopped and then collapsed to the ground and he found Naruto and Sasuke watching him.

"Where is my brother?" he asked Naruto irritated that his voice was unsteady.

"He's waiting for you in your office." The blonde young man replied.

He nodded and took a deep breath as he tried to will the tension from his body.

"You know, we both know what you're going through." Naruto said as he and Sasuke moved closer to him. Gaara blinked in surprise but didn't speak as his friend continued. "Hinata, she's thrown herself between me and danger more often than I care to admit. When Pain destroyed the leaf village, during the war, and even when we worked to save the world from the moon." He shook his head. "That reckless woman."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Sakura is just as bad. She's been hurt so many times trying to protect me over the years. It almost makes me want to lock her up somewhere safe and never let her out."

"I know, right?!" Naruto exclaimed. "It sucks because we want to protect them more than anyone else in the world but they feel the same way about us and usually do a better job at it."

The Uchiha gave a long suffering sigh. "It's true. That's just part of having the love a strong woman." He said. "We can't stop them from throwing themselves in the path of danger because that would change who they are."

The Uzamaki nodded. "Exactly. All we can do is try to protect them as best we can and then pick up the pieces when we don't manage it."

Gaara stared at his friends. They did understand how he felt. The frustration, the anger, the guilt, all of it. He offered each of them a rare smile and walked forward putting an arm around each of them. "Thank you." He said. "I'm truly lucky to have friends like you."

Naruto chuckled as the Kazekage pulled away.

"Do you know what you're going to do now?" Sasuke asked.

Gaara nodded. "I'm going to my office. I have a large report to read. I'm going to protect her and the best way I can do that is by putting Takuma in the ground."

The Uchiha and Uzamaki smirked in response as he left.

"We did a good thing." Naruto said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, I guess we did." Sasuke replied. He bit his thumb and slammed it to the ground. "Summoning jutsu!" he exclaimed. A bald eagle appeared and he took a scroll from his pocket and attached it to the bird who then took off into the air.

"A message for Kakashi?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "He needs to know what went down here. If what Kyou said is true, then this Takuma guy is after world domination and that's never good. I'm sure Gaara is going to send him a message as well but it won't hurt to send one of our own."

Naruto nodded. "You're right." He replied. "I'm with Gaara, I want to put this Takuma guy in the ground."

The Uchiha nodded. "We all do."

Sakura collapsed on the roof of the hospital and leaned back against the edge of the bench her eyes closing as her head fell back. "I did it." She muttered. "Somehow I did it."

The surgery had been a difficult one as she tried to repair the effects that the drug, tainted chakra, and knife had on the girl. Her prognosis was now good given her amazing resilience and the blood transfusion that had cleared most of the damaging drug out of her body.

"Long night?" Sasuke said materializing beside her.

She glanced at him and nodded. "It was for you too." She replied. "What's everyone up to now?"

"Gaara and Kankuro are reading through Onchou's report and making arrangements for the village that was attacked to receive the help it needs. Sai is guarding Onchou's room and Naruto is with Ryuu and Temari." He replied.

"I see. What are you supposed to be doing?" she asked him.

"I'm supposed to escort a very talented, but exhausted medical ninja back to her room so that she can rest." He replied standing up and extending his hand to her.

"We'll if that medical ninja happens to have pink hair, you're probably going to have to carry her because she doesn't feel like moving at the moment." She said closing her eyes and shifting a little as her back throbbed.

"Very well." He replied pulling her into his arms.

She yelped and nearly jumped out of his embrace stopping only when she realized they were already moving across the roof tops. "If you'd waited a minute, I would've walked on my own." She hissed as she snaked her arms around his neck.

"If I'd waited a minute, you would've been asleep." He replied landing in front of their hotel and walking inside with her.

"You know." He said as he pushed the button for their floor on the elevator. "One of my only pet peeves about this village is the lack of balcony's." he admitted. "It's pretty hard to get into the windows here because of the unique styling of the buildings."

Sakura laughed as they approached their room. "You're starting so sound like Kakashi Sensei." She commented as he pushed the door open and locked it behind her.

"Should I feel insulted by that comment?" He asked as she kicked off her shoes and groaned.

"That's up to you. I'm going to take a shower." She told him.

"Ok." He replied taking off his own shoes and sitting down in one of the chairs. "I'll stay here. Call out if you need anything."

"Ok." She replied slipping through the door. With a sigh her clothes fell to the floor and she quickly stepped into the shower and let the water wash away all of the dirt, grime, and sweat left from her exhausting nearly twenty four hour day. She stepped out of the water and turned it off quickly wrapping a towel around herself and using another to dry her blush colored locks. After a few minutes, it occurred to her that she hadn't brought a change of clothes in with her and a groan escaped her throat. "Why is this happening to me?" she whined. Putting the dirty clothes back on was out of the question. Asking Sasuke was an option but that would mean he'd have to get her underwear too and that was just… awkward. Frustrated she turned and took in her reflection in the mirror. She didn't look too indecent right? I mean there were ninja who wore less than what she was now out on missions and all of the important parts were covered. She's seen him in nothing but a towel before twice actually so this really wasn't that outrageous right?

Deciding going out to get her clothes was the best option, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Sasuke's eyes lifted from the paper was reading and she felt a sense of smug satisfaction as his cheeks colored at the sight of her clad in nothing but a towel.

"Sakura?" he said his voice hitching a little which only made her feel better.

"Sorry. I totally forgot to grab a change of clothes. I'm just going to grab them really quick." She explained moving quickly across the room. Very carefully, she knelt down beside her bag and dug through it searching for her pajamas and under things.

"I can get those for you." Sasuke said moving across the room. "Just go back to the bathroom and wait."

"No way." She replied. "I don't want you looking at my underwear. It's weird."

"Please Sakura." He said. The roughness of his voice had her glancing behind her and she was surprised to see him standing a couple of feet away from her with his hands balled into fists. "I'm begging you, get back in the bathroom. I'll bring the bag to you."

"Its fine." She protested turning her attention back to her bag. "I'm almost done."

"I tried to warn you." He muttered.

"What?" she asked turning back to look at him. In a flash he was at her side his lips smashed against hers as he grabbed her around the waist and tossed her on the bed. "Sasuke!" she squeaked as he crawled over her capturing her lips with his own silencing her. His hands trailed over her exploring her bare shoulder, stroking up and down her arms and moving further down to trail his fingertips over her naked thighs nudging the fabric of the cotton towel up slightly.

She tore her mouth from his desperate for air. "Sasuke! I'm only wearing a towel!" she squeaked her cheeks bright red with embarrassment, surprise, and arousal.

"That's why I told you to get back in the damn bathroom." He replied moving his lips to her throat. "I don't have nearly as much self-control as you think I do." He growled against her skin as he moved his mouth to suck and nip at her collar bone.

Her heart pounded wildly at his words. He wanted her that badly. Sasuke Uchiha, the legendary ninja known for his expert control of his emotions and coldness wasn't able to keep his hands to himself after seeing her like this. The thought thrilled her and fanned the flames of her own arousal. She had no personal experience in sex but being a medical ninja, she knew all of the mechanics of it. However, nothing she'd studied prepared her for the heat pooling in her belly and the desperate need to touch and be touched.

"Sasuke." She groaned pulling at his shirt. He moved away from her and quickly pulled the garment from his body and then hovered over her again pressing his lips to hers. Her fingers moved greedily over the newly exposed skin feeling every ridge of muscle, tracing every nick and scar as she moved them over his shoulders and down to his hips.

"Sakura!" he hissed as her fingertips slipped under the fabric of his pants. He pulled away from her his eyes nearly glowing with his desire for her and she felt that she might burn alive right there. She trembled as his mismatched orbs both shifted to blood red.

"Sasuke, what are you…?" she questioned. A squeak of surprise left her lips as he reached forward and pulled the towel free letting the fabric fall exposing her to him completely. Her face colored with embarrassment and her hands instinctively moved to cover herself. His hand grabbed hers stilling her movement and her eyes widened.

"Don't!" he commanded as his sharringan enhanced gaze roamed over every inch of her. "You're beautiful Sakura." He said softly his voice thick with love and desire. He gathered her hands together in his bandaged one and pinned them down to the bed as his good hand trailed his fingertips over the exposed skin caressing each breast and stroking over the rosy pink tips drawing a gasp and then a moan from her. He leaned down and kissed one then the other before taking one of her rosy nipples into his mouth.

Sakura arched instinctively against him as a strangled cry tumbled from her lips. He raised his head slightly and smirked at her. "So loud." He murmured.

"Shut up!" she hissed looking away from him as her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

He chuckled and laid his lips against her opposite breast kissing down to the nipple. "You are so cute." He murmured before sucking on the rosy bud.

She moaned her hands straining against the one pinning her down. He was setting her nerves ablaze and she desperately wanted to touch him. "Sasuke!" she groaned. "Please!"

He glanced up at her. "Please what?" he asked.

"Damn you! Don't tease me." She whimpered as his grip on her hands tightened.

"But you're so fun to tease." He replied. "Tell me what you want."

"I want… I want to touch you too." She said breathlessly.

"That wasn't so hard now was it?" he replied releasing her hands.

Finally free to move, she yanked his face up to hers again and smashed her mouth against his as her hands dug into the muscles of his back a little smirk of satisfaction of her own coming to her lips when he hissed against her mouth. Using her monstrous strength she flipped him onto his back and her lips and finger tips began to explore his bare torso. Sasuke groaned and panted as she dragged her tongue along the ridges of his abs as she worked her way lower to where his pants still covered his lower body. She licked her lips as she pulled at the black pants slipping them from his legs leaving him in only a pair of black boxers. A little chuckle fell from her lips at the sight.

"So that answers the question fan girls all over the world have asked." She remarked. "Sasuke Uchiha wears boxers. Black ones at that."

"Shut up!" he growled.

"Are you embarrassed?" she murmured crawling back up to hover over him once again pressing her lips to his before she pulled away. "It's alright. I'll be the only one to ever see them after all."

He smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You've had your fun." He replied rolling her to her back again. She tensed as his hand moved lower brushing against her womanhood and a jolt of fear went thought her. As much as she loved Sasuke, part of her was terrified of this act. It was something completely unknown to her and everything was happening so quickly. Nothing would be the same between them after this step was taken. He had just barely come back to her and part of her was still terrified that he'd leave again. If he left after they took this step, it would break her and the thought terrified her. He kissed her softly and then rolled once more until they were on their sides and he was spooning her. She was surprise, nearly shocked. She had felt so sure that he was going to keep going.

"Sasuke?" she asked a little confused at the change of events. He reached for the blankets and pulled them up and over both of them. "What is it?"

"Shh." He replied pulling her tighter to him. "That's enough for today."

"Are you kidding me?" she murmured her anger and embarrassment flaring. "Do you not want me?"

"It's not like that." He assured her smoothing his hand over her hair. "Calm down."

"Then what is it?" she demanded.

"You're afraid." He said softly in her ear. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to deny it but he spoke first. "It's alright." He assured her. "I am too. Just being with you like this is enough for me right now. The rest will come naturally." He brushed his fingers over the curve of her hip letting it rest there. "Don't worry. We'll get there just not tonight ok? Your wellbeing is much more important than anything else right now. Rest."

She sighed and snuggled against him. "Alright." She agreed as a wave of exhaustion hit her weighing down her eyelids. "I love you Sasuke." She murmured.

"I know." He replied lifting his hand to tap her lightly in the middle of her forehead. "Just go to sleep. I'll be by your side when you wake up."

Within minutes, Sakura was asleep and Sasuke smirked. She was beyond exhausted and it showed. After he was sure she wouldn't wake, he slipped away from her and moved to pick up the clothes she'd retrieved. Very carefully, he slipped the top into place taking one last look at her breasts as he did so. Some said that she was flat, but he knew otherwise. Her breasts weren't large and showy but they were perfect. Just a little bigger than a handful and more sensitive than he'd ever imagined. Her top taken care of, he moved to her bottoms and pulled the white lacy panties into place covering her womanhood from his gaze before finally slipping the bottoms over her hips. His task complete, he stalked over to the bathroom and quickly started the shower using the coolness of the water to remind him that he'd stopped for her sake and that waking her just to satisfy himself was selfish and wrong.

In all honesty, he'd wanted her more tonight than he'd ever wanted her before. She'd looked heavenly wearing nothing but a towel with her damp hair sticking to her neck. He hadn't been able to resist. Her naked body splayed out underneath him was everything he'd dreamed it would be and more. He'd activated his sharringan on purpose desperate to sear the image with every detail into his memory. Every muscle, every curve, the soft mounds of her breasts, her rosy pink nipples, the patch of vibrant pink curls between her legs. It was all lovely and all his. He'd been surprised at her boldness flipping him over and taking his pants off like she did. It had aroused him even further knowing that though he could dominate her, that she could hold her own and wasn't completely submissive. When he couldn't take anymore, he'd flipped her over and reached for the place he wanted most and instantly saw the fear in her eyes. It had been like cold water poured over the flame of his desire and he'd immediately realized that though she wasn't afraid of him, she was afraid of how quickly things were going. When he'd stopped to think about it himself, he'd felt the same fear. The moment their bodies became one, there would be no going back and they both knew it. He promised himself then that he would take his time and properly treasure her until that fear in her eyes was gone even if it took a lifetime.

He turned off the water and quickly toweled himself off and changed into a pair of boxers and knit pants not even bothering to put on a shirt as he went back to Sakura's side sliding in bed next to her. She reacted almost instantly turning and curling against him her hand resting on his bare chest. He smiled and put his arm around her and touched his forehead to hers. "Sakura, I love you." He whispered. "This time, it's my turn to wait for you."

P.S. I'm sorry to everyone who was hoping for a lemon and got a lime. It's still citrus though right? Thanks a million for reading, reviewing and such. The rest of the week is going to be a challenge for me since I have family coming into town but I'll do what I can. Thank you!


	19. Chapter 19

Gaara's hand moved over the document in front of him requesting that the village guard be increased as he signed it and then pressed the seal of the Kazekage onto the paper.

"Is that all of them?" he asked his brother standing near his side.

Kankuro nodded. "That is. There are a few late proposals that have been submitted but none of them are urgent."

The Kazekage nodded and rose from his desk. "In that case, I'll take my leave." He said. "I'm going to attend to some personal business now."

"Of course." Kuro replied as his brother moved towards the door. "Sakura told me today that she was moved from intensive care to a regular room."

"Thank you." The red haired shinobi replied before he left the room closing the door behind him. With a steady, determined stride he moved through the streets of Suna. It was nearing sunset and he picked up the pace as he walked to one of the few flower shops in the village and stepped inside.

"Lord Kazekage. So nice to see you again." An older woman with white hair, brown eyes, and a warm smile greeted him. She quickly walked to the back room and returned with a single white, long stemmed rose.

"Thank you." He said. He glanced around the shop and spotted a small bouquet of purple and white violets. "I'll take those as well." He said motioning to the bundle.

The woman raised a brow at the request and quickly plucked the bundle from the display case. "May I ask who these are for?" the old woman asked as she rang up his total.

"They're for a friend of mine." He replied simply though his voice was tender.

"I see." The woman replied as she took the money he gave her and counted out his change. "Tell that lovely young woman with purple hair to get well soon." His eyes widened and a little blush came to his cheeks. The woman winked at him and smiled as he left the shop. "Oh Chiyo, you should see this boy now. I bet you never imagined when you sealed that monster inside of him all those years ago that the day would come when he'd come into my shop to buy not only a rose for you but flowers for a pretty girl as well." She chuckled. "Ah young love."

He made his way through the streets of the village to the hospital. He quickly walked up to the front desk thankful that the receptionist was a man for once. "Lord Kazekage, how can I help you?" the man asked.

"I'm here to see Onchou." He replied. "I was told she was moved rooms today."

"Ah yes." The young man said his fingers moving over the hospital map on his desk. "She's in room 307." He replied handing the red head a visitors pass. "From what I've been told, she's doing exceptionally well. Lady Sakura is a miracle worker."

Gaara nodded and left the reception desk and walked to the elevator pushing the up arrow. A boy of about thirteen came up beside him and joined him on the elevator clutching a small bunch of daisies in his hands. He shifted and then glanced at the flowers the sand wielder held.

"Are you here to visit a girl too?" the boy asked.

The sand shinobi blinked in surprise and nodded.

"I thought so." The boy replied looking at his own flowers. "I don't really get why girls like stuff like this." The boy admitted. "Do you?" the boy asked.

Gaara thought for a moment. "Why did you pick those flowers?" he asked.

"She likes daisies best." The boy replied. "Why did you pick the flowers you have?"

"They remind me of her eyes and her hair." The Kazekage replied. "I think that's why girls like getting flowers. It means that the person giving them the flowers was thinking of them."

The boy thought for a moment and then nodded. "That makes sense." He said as they both got off on the third floor. "Good luck Lord Kazekage and thank you." He said before he dashed down the hallway.

He shook his head a little and then followed the signs until he found room 307. He rapped lightly on the closed door and heard the shuffling of feet before the door flew open revealing a boy with ruby eyes and silver hair.

"Oh, it's you." He replied his voice dripping with annoyance.

"Who is it?" Onchou called out softly.

"It's just raccoon eyes!" he replied in a bored tone. "Come in." he said pulling the door open wider.

"Thank you Ryuu." The Kazekage said as he moved into the room. He passed the curtain and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding her as he looked her over. She looked much better than the last time he'd seen her. There was life sparkling in her eyes and her skin was radiant and bright. Her gaze fell upon him and she smiled warmly at him.

"Hello Gaara." She said. "What brings you here?"

Ryuu climbed up onto her hospital bed and Naruto grinned at him from where he was seated at Onchou's bedside.

He walked forward and handed the bouquet of violets to her. "These are for you." He said softly.

Her eyes widened and a smile brightened her face further revealing the dimple he liked so much. Her eyes closed as she pressed the blossoms to her face and breathed deeply. "They're beautiful." She said. "Thank you very much." She turned to Ryuu. "Can you get a vase from the nurse's station for me?" she asked.

"Sure." The boy replied hopping down from the bed. "Smooth move, ginger." He whispered as he passed the red head before he dashed out the door.

Naruto chuckled. "Man, that kid is really something else isn't he?" he remarked. "He's almost as smooth of a talker as Shikimaru."

The Kazekage nodded and took a seat next to the Uzamaki. "So you're looking after him today?" he asked.

The blue eyed ninja nodded. "Yeah. Sai and Sasuke are busy in the library and Sakura is working on that vaccine for Onchou." He replied.

"I don't know what I'll ever be able to do to repay her." Onchou murmured. "She's saved my life twice already."

The blonde snorted. "Don't worry about it. She's happy to do it."

The boy returned with a small vase and filled it up with water. He took the flowers from Onchou and smiled at them. "Is this the first time someone else besides me gave you flowers Onchou?" Ryuu asked.

"Yes." She replied with a smile as blush came to her cheeks. "I'm surprised. Thank you again." She said looking at the Kazekage.

"You're welcome. I was actually hoping you could come with me somewhere for a little while." He said.

She blinked in surprise. "Oh, ok. I'm a little weak though."

"It's alright." He replied. "I'll carry you if it's too much."

"Ok then." She replied. "You run along with Naruto." She said to Ryuu. "He's taking you to get ramen right?"

The ruby eyed child nodded. "Will you be back in time to sing me a song before bed?"

The violet haired girl glanced at the Kazekage. "Yes. We'll be back before then." He assured the silver haired child.

"Alright. See you later Onchou." He said running up to her and throwing his arms around her. He hugged her tightly and then kissed her cheek before bouncing out of the room with Naruto in tow. "Don't try anything weird raccoon eyes." He warned the Kazekage as he left.

Gaara shook his head slightly and then extended a hand to Onchou. She took it as she slid to the edge of the bed and stepped down onto the floor. She reached for her shoes and then cringed as she motion irritated the still healing stab wound.

"Stop." The sand shinobi said noting her discomfort. "I will do this for you." He said kneeling down in front of her.

"You don't have to." She protested. "I can call a nurse. The Kazekage shouldn't be doing something like this at all, let alone to me."

He lifted her slender foot in his hand and slid it into her sandal. "I was simply Gaara long before I was The Kazekage." He replied as he moved to the next foot. "I want to do this for you." He said repeating the same action. "Come." He said helping her from her bed and picking up the rose he'd left on the empty chair nearby.

They left the hospital together and she stumbled as she walked the dirt streets of Suna bumping into him. "Sorry." She replied quickly. "I'm still a little unsteady on my feet."

"It's alright." He replied grabbing her arm and threading it through his own. "I'll keep you from falling."

She blushed a little and nodded letting him support her as they moved towards the village burial ground. He led her through the organized maze of stone towards a monument dedicated to ninja who fell honorably in battle. He stopped in front of one of the newer looking headstones and left her side reaching for a dying white rose atop the stone and replacing it with the fresh one in his hand using a little of his sand to secure it in place.

He knelt in front of the stone and presses his palms together as his eyes closed and offered words to the woman buried beneath him. 'Lady Chiyo. The person I have brought to meet you today is someone who has become very dear to me. She has experienced a lifetime of hardships and even now is pursued by evil men who desire her for power. Please watch over her as you watch over me. Don't let her make the same sacrifice you did for my sake. I want her by my side.' He opened his eyes and stood up again and turned to the young woman behind him who had her head bowed respectfully.

"This is the resting place of Lady Chiyo." He said moving to stand beside her again. "Have you heard of her?"

Onchou nodded. "Sakura told me that it was her technique she used to save me in the desert."

The Kazekage nodded. "She was an incredible person. Full of immense wisdom. There was a time when I hated her." He admitted. The violet haired girl glanced at him but didn't speak, waiting patiently for him to continue. "She did something to me that I felt was unforgivable. It was at my father's request but it still angered me. Then, a little over four years ago I was captured, by a group of international terrorists." Onchou's eyes widened her jaw dropping slightly in surprise. "They proceeded to perform a three day long ritual that took my life."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Gaara." She whimpered her voice full of tenderness.

He touched her shoulder to steady her and continued. "At the time I hadn't been Kazekage long and there were many who didn't approve for one reason or another. The elders in particularly were wary of me and refused to send anyone after me."

The girl's hands balled into fists. "How could they do such a thing?!" she demanded.

He shrugged. "Fear causes people to make strange decisions. A group from the village hidden in the leaves came to my aid instead and Lady Chiyo was the only one of my people who came with them."

Her eyes widened. "She did?"

He nodded. "She was mortally wounded in battle with one of my captors but still managed to save Sakura's life. Once my body was recovered from his partner, she used a forbidden jutsu to bring me back to life with the help of Naruto at the cost of her own life."

Onchou's eyes misted with tears as she turned her gaze to the stone. "What an amazing woman." She murmured.

The Kazakage nodded. "She was. I feel that it might have been her way of making amends for the unforgivable thing she did to me. I'll never know for certain, however I am thankful to her for giving me the opportunity to live again. Without her sacrifice I never would have met you." He said looking at the violet haired girl. "As much as I admire her, I don't want you to be like her." He said looking into her amethyst eyes. "I don't want you to sacrifice your live to save mine, because you're existence is important to me and this world."

She blinked in surprise and then smiled. "Thank you." She said simply. Her eyes turned to the stone and she knelt before it and pressed her palms together in a motion of prayer her eyes closing. After a few moments she opened them again and trailed her fingers over the stone. "Lady Chiyo. Thank you for saving Gaara. This world would be a much more dangerous place without his strength, wisdom, and courage to protect it." She said softly. With a little difficulty she rose to her feet just as the sun dipped below the horizon. She stumbled tipping forward and Gaara reached out to steady her.

"Come. I promised Ryuu you'd be back in time to sing him a lullaby." He said sweeping her up into his arms and carrying her away from the burial ground.

An old man stepped out from where he had concealed himself near the stone monument smiling as he watched the Kazekage carry the violet haired girl away from his sister's head stone. He shuffled towards the stone and touched the fresh white rose that had been left there.

"Did you see that sis?" Ebizo said to the stone. "Lord Gaara has turned into a fine young man and that young lady with him. She's a precious one. Watch over them both though I know it's silly of me to ask because you were going to do that anyway."

Days later, Team Seven along with Onchou and Ryuu met in the large hall of elders within Suna. A monitor was set up in the middle of the room and after a few moments of adjusting, the face of The Hokage, Kakashi appeared on screen.

"Hello Lord Garra. Thank you for suggesting this method of communication. It's much easier than letters." He silver haired shinobi said.

"Time is not on our side." Gaara replied. "I figured this method would be best."

Kakashi nodded. "You're absolutely right." He agreed. "Hello there Team Seven." He said glancing at the other ninja on screen. "I trust that you've been behaving yourselves?"

Sakura chuckled even as Naruto sulked. "That hurts Kakashi Sensei." He whined. "We're not a bunch of kids anymore."

"I know that. You make even bigger messes now." He replied.

Sai and Sakura chuckled as Sasuke and Naruto frowned. "Let's get down the business." Gaara said. "Did you read the reports I sent you?"

Kakashi nodded. "I did. I'm very surprised that this Takuma person wasn't on our radar either. All of the events that were said to have happened in The Land of Fire have been confirmed though. Everything had been written off as a natural disaster, a random attack by a group of bandits, or just a one-time tragedy. We never even considered the possibility they might be linked to any organization."

Onchou nodded. "He was very good at covering his tracks." She commented. "His policy is to leave no trace behind and eliminate all possible witnesses."

"Is this the girl mentioned in your letters?" the silver haired shinobi asked.

Gaara nodded. "Yes she is. This is Onchou and this is Ryuu." He said introducing the two.

"It's nice to meet you. Well, sort of meet you anyway." The Hokage said smiling behind his mask at them. "Thanks for cooperating with everything."

Onchou nodded and Ryuu jerked his head once before moving closer to the violet haired girl. It was clear that he was a little uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"So as we were saying. Even the destruction of The Land of Pearls was orchestrated and carried out by his organization?" he asked. Gaara nodded even as Onchou tensed her fingers digging into the arm rests of her chair. "As I recall, a team from the leaf was dispatched to help investigate that one. Ah yes, team Kurani."

"Where is The Land of Pearls?" Naruto asked.

"It's an island nation similar in size to The Land of Waves located just off the coast of The Land of Wind." Kakashi replied.

"Wait! Hinata went on that mission didn't she?" he asked. "I remember her talking about it. She said the devastation was incredible. They weren't able to find a single survivor."

Kakashi nodded. "Indeed. The death toll was never confirmed because of just how mangled most of the bodies were." He replied.

"How could he do such a thing?" Sakura murmured. "To destroy the bodies until a death toll couldn't be taken. That screams evil."

"Six thousand four hundred and seventy nine." Onchou said softly.

"What?" Sasuke asked glancing over at the girl who was trembling in her chair.

"The death toll was exactly six thousand four hundred and seventy nine!" She exclaimed before rising from her chair and sprinting for the door.

"Onchou! Wait!" Ryuu exclaimed running after her.

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know but we should wrap this up quickly before this turns into something troublesome." Sasuke replied.

Kakashi nodded. "Right. Based on the information we've received I agree that it's out best interests to team up for this. I'm sending eight of my best ninja to assist you. Finding and taking down Takuma and his organization is top priority. The scars of the Fourth Great Ninja War and the incident involving the moon a year ago are still fresh. A new threat to our hard earned peace needs to be extinguished immediately."

"Thank you for your assistance." Gaara said bowing to the Hokage.

"Thank you for your vigilance." Kakashi replied. "Feel free to contact me any time."

The monitor shut off and team seven accompanied by Gaara tracked down Ryuu who was standing in the middle of the street with a frown on his face.

"Ryuu!" Naruto called out. "Where did Onchou go?" he asked.

"I don't know. I lost sight of her." The ruby eyed child replied.

"What's wrong with her?" Sakura asked.

Ryuu shook his head. "I'm not sure. She gets like this every time The Land of Pearls is mentioned."

Sai nodded and turned to Sasuke. "Can you find her?"

He nodded and activated his eye power searching for her chakra signature. After a few moments he spoke. "She's outside the village and moving fast."

"Where in the heck is she going?" Naruto exclaimed.

"I don't know but it's not good for her to be by herself right now." Sakura said.

"Let's go." Gaara said pulling Ryuu onto his back.

They quickly sprinted across the rooftops, down the stone corridor, and across the desert. After a few moments, the Uchiha spotted her on the horizon. "I can see her." He said. "She's not moving anymore she's just standing there."

"Let's hurry up and figure out what's going on." Naruto said sprinting faster across the sand.

As they were about to come within speaking distance to her she turned towards them tears running down her face before she turned to run again.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto exclaimed leaping the distance and tackling the violet haired girl to the ground. "What are you running from!?" he demanded as he pinned her arms down and straddled her waist. "We're your friends!" he declared glaring down at her.

"Let me go!" she yelled. "I don't deserve to be friends with any of you!"

"That's our choice to make, not yours." Sakura replied.

"You're a good person." Sai added. "We all like you."

"They just want to help Onchou." Ryuu said sliding from Gaara's back.

"You're a bunch of idiots." She replied. "Letting a monster like me into you midst."

"What are you going on about?" Sasuke demanded.

"It was me!" she screamed. "I'm the one that killed all those people in The Land of Pearls!"

Naruto's grip on her slackened as his eyes widened in shock and she managed to slip away and stand wrapping her arms around herself. "It was all me." She whimpered. "I can still hear their screams in my head."

"How is that even possible?" Sakura replied. "I read the reports. The Land of Pearls was destroyed in a single night. That's impossible for one person to do. They ruled it as a natural disaster right?"

Onchou snorted. "Yeah, just like the tailed beasts appearing and attacking ninja villages were natural disasters. Nothing is impossible when you've got the right monster at your disposal."

"Onchou, we know that you didn't do those things because you wanted to. You were forced to." Naruto said softly. "We still love you. Come back to the village with us."

She nodded and shuffled forward her eyes briefly meeting the Kazekage's before she looked away as she remembered what had happened four years go.

"Two sixty nine, we're going out." Takuma said from the doorway of her bedroom where she was tending to Ryuu who was babbling happily at the makeshift rattle she'd made from an old pair of metal spoons she'd slipped rocks in between and melted together using her fire chakra.

"Where are we going?" Onchou asked as she stood up brushing the dirt from her black and red dress.

"We're going to a pretty place." He said. "It's called The Land of Pearls."

"Will we be gone long?" she asked.

"A little more than a week." He said settling a bundle of clothes on her bed before picking up the toddler.

"Will Ryuu be ok for that long by himself?" she asked.

He nodded. "He'll just be put in the incubator. He won't even notice you're gone."

"Oh ok." She said frowning. She hated it when Takuma put Ryuu inside that awful glass tube but the last time she'd said something, he'd hit her and told her that adults knew best so she hadn't said anything about it since.

"Bring the clothes I put on your bed with you and change into your red long sleeved dress. Put on your cloak. I'll be back to get you in ten minutes." He said his blue eyes stern.

"Yes Lord Takuma." She said softly.

He closed the door behind him and she quickly changed out of the tattered dress she wore inside to the nicer rarely worn red dress she wore outside. Her travel bag that was always packed by Takuma was sitting just inside her closet and she pulled out the leather shoulder bag and slipped the new clothes inside. She didn't bother looking at them, she didn't really care what she wore. She wrapped white bandages around her thigh and ready for the weapons pouch Takuma would give her as soon as they left the hideout. He didn't trust her to have them inside though she'd already surrendered herself to the fact that she'd only be able to escape him when she was old enough to take Ryuu with her. She released her hair from its high pony tail and slipped the elastic onto her wrist.

"Are you ready to go two sixty nine?" Takuma asked appearing in her door way as she slipped the cloak around her shoulders.

"Yes Lord Takuma." She replied softly.

"Excellent." He replied. "Come with me." He said motioning for her to follow him.

She followed him down the hall way away from the laboratory and towards the part of the hideout where the general experiment subjects were held. The prisoners watched her as she passed and she kept her eyes trained on the ground as she trembled. Their soul songs had become more alarming. Before their songs had been filled with hatred, jealousy, and even pity. Lately however, some of the songs were changing, becoming tinged desire to touch and possess her. The only explanation she could find for their recent changes were the changes she was starting to notice in her own body. She'd always been a tall, lanky child but lately she'd noticed her waist nipping in and her chest beginning to swell. Research had helped her realize that she was in the beginning stages of puberty and it was frightening that some of the men in the hideout had noticed already. She knew none of them would dare touch her for fear of Takuma's wrath but their songs were still proclaiming their intentions loud and clear.

They finally reached the door of the hideout and Takuma paused. "Do you remember our story for when we're out here?" he asked.

She nodded. "I am your daughter." She replied.

"Good girl." He said handing a weapon's pouch to her. She secured it to her leg and he pushed the door open. A smile crossed her lips as the sun kissed her face and she breathed in fresh air for the first time in months.

"Come, we have a long journey ahead." He said urging her forward.

Four days later, they arrived at the island nation of The Land of Pearls.

"It's beautiful." She said softly as she walked next to Takuma down the bright cheery streets of the village.

He nodded. "It is." He agreed. "It's a small but wealthy nation with its main export being the pearls of its namesake. I have a meeting with the leader of this nation. You will wear the new clothes then." He said as they neared a large mansion on a hill.

"Yes Lord Takuma." She said.

The clothes were in a style that she didn't wear often. It consisted of a black and gold Chinese style dress and black shorts. She knelt beside Takuma as he talked with a man she didn't recognize but didn't like. His song was greedy and slimy and his eyes often went to her. After the meeting ended Takuma instructed her to stay with the man while he left to retrieve something from the room they'd rented.

"I don't want to." She protested. "His song scares me."

"Stay here." Takuma replied sharply his blue eyes flashing dangerously. "If something happens, use this." He said giving her a syringe filled with what looked like black water.

"Yes Lord Takuma." She replied softly.

As soon as the door was slid shut, her skin began to crawl as a song unlike any other she'd heard flowed past her ears. It was slimy, possessive, and made her stomach drop.

"Takuma never told me what your name was." The large man said moving closer to her. "Won't you tell me?" he asked reaching out to trail his fingers up her arm.

"Lord Takuma doesn't use my name." she replied moving out of his reach. "My grandmother called me Onchou."

"Onchou." He repeated. "I really like you Onchou." He said moving closer and grabbing her hair in his hands. He lifted it to his face and breathed in deeply. "You're so very pretty." He sighed.

"Thank you." She said. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch me though."

"I can't help but touch you. You're so beautiful. Let me show you how beautiful you are." He said reaching for her. She moved but wasn't fast enough as he wrapped his pudgy arms around her waist and pulled her back against him running his slimy tongue along her neck as his hand ripped the top from her body.

"Stop!" she screamed trying to get out of his grip. "Let go of me!"

His hand moved across her newly exposed skin as his teeth and lips latched onto her neck. "I won't stop." He replied. "I'll never stop."

His words sent a wave of fear straight into her heart turning it to ice. He wasn't lying and she knew he was going to awful things to her, things that some of the men in the lab wanted to. Takuma wasn't here to protect her so she'd have to protect herself. She suddenly remembered the syringe he'd given her and pulled it from her weapons pouch. She quickly uncapped it and plunged it into her leg and the black water entered her body. A gasp escaped her lips as something pulsed within her and she went limp in his arms.

"So you're finally giving in?" he murmured laying her on the floor. "That's a good girl." He said as he stood up and began to remove is kimono.

Instinct took over as something dark pulsed within her veins. She reached into the core of her being and grasped at the white hot electricity there pulling it to the surface of her being and focusing it into her hand. This man was not going to have his way with her. She'd already lost nearly everything, there was no way she was going to lose this part of her as well.

The man smiled and licked his lips oblivious to the power surging in her hand and lowered himself towards her crushing her with his weight. His mouth descended towards hers and she gritted her teeth. Just a few more inches and she'd be able to do what she needed to. Then when his lips were just a breath away from hers she struck, her hand shooting forward charged with electricity and plunged through the man's chest tearing through his heart and coming out the other side. He gasped his eyes wide as he looked down at her.

"This part of me will not be taken by the likes of you." She said before throwing him off of her with a blast of wind chakra. She staggered to her feet blood dripping from her arm and smeared across her bare torso. Feeling self-conscious and reeling from the shock, she took her kunai and sliced a sleeve of his kimono off using the fabric to cover herself as best she could.

"Lord Sugo!" a voice called out. She turned and watched a group of men pour into the room staring at their fallen king. "He's dead!" their gaze turned to her. "You killed him."

"I told him to stop." She said her voice shaking slightly. "He didn't stop, what was I supposed to do?"

"He is the ruler of our country. He does what he pleases." The soldier replied.

Something within in her snapped and rage began to boil in her veins. Chakra hot and angry began to swirl around her. "I hate people like you." She snarled. "A bunch of loyal dogs who would offer up their own children to this monster if he asked." Her eyes flashed dangerously and her hair began to whip as the wind swirled around her. "The world doesn't need mindless vermin like you!" she yelled. She unleased her focused chakra and lighting burst from her in an amount she'd never before commanded. The men screamed as they and the house around them vanished in a flash of light.

Onchou stood breathing heavily her hands clenching and unclenching in the middle of the crater her power had created. A group of people began to gather.

"That girl! She destroyed Lord Sugo's manor!" a man exclaimed.

"She killed Lord Sugo!" another replied. "She's a monster!"

Her blood boiled in her veins. These people were the same. She'd killed him because he'd tried to rape her and here they were calling her the monster? It was unacceptable, unforgivable. She'd only been trying to protect herself. She turned to face them her anger boiling and chakra flaring noting the fearful and angry looks the gathering crowd was giving her. Their songs were an angry buzz in her ears and only fueled the hatred inside of her. Who were they to judge her? Her home had been destroyed, her village annihilated. Her family had been ripped from her hands and she'd been forced to live with a sick twisted man who had not only murdered her family, but who performed awful experiments on her. How dare they look at her with those eyes?! Something deep inside of her snapped and she felt a flood of darkness seeping into her being. She formed hand signs, bit her thumb and slammed it to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" she exclaimed.

The crowd screamed in horror as a massive black dragon appeared with her atop his head.

"Lady Onchou. I never imagined the day would come that you would summon me." The creature rumbled.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I haven't had a need for your power until now." She replied. "It seems that for once we desire to sing the same tune."

He chuckled in response. "The song of death and destruction is a tune you've been unwilling to sing in the past. What happened?"

"The ruler of this place tried to rape me so I killed him. Now his people want to kill me." She replied.

"Foolish humans." The dragon responded. "Always following strongest dog no matter how monstrous it might be."

"What is that!?" one of the villagers demanded.

"I am Shadow, the Black Dragon of Destruction." The beast replied.

"A monster!" a man exclaimed. "That child is a monster bringing this creature here! Quick! We must request assistance from The Land of Wind!"

A flurry of arrows came flying at the girl and were reduced to ash by Shadow's crimson flames.

"Lady Onchou. Your orders." Shadow asked.

"Kill them." She replied darkly. "Kill them all. Since they're so distraught over the loss of their precious leader we'll alleviate their suffering by sending them to Hell to join him."

The dragon rumbled in response. "With pleasure my lady."

They swept across the island nation destroying every man woman and child in their path. Power darker and more potent than she'd ever felt before pulsed through her as she used her water chakra to overturn the boats trying to leave the island and then created massive whirlpools along the shore drowning all who tried to escape listening until the only songs left were her own and Shadow's. The massive beast landed on the beach that was stained red with the blood of those who had tried to escape into the ocean. He lowered his head and she stepped down unto the sand and bowed to him.

"You should probably leave." She said as she noted the first light of early morning beginning to spread across the sky. "It would be troublesome if you were spotted."

"I see that you're still wise beyond your years." The dragon replied. "Call upon me whenever you have need of me. I'll gladly destroy for you Lady Onchou. I owe you that much for saving me years ago."

She nodded and with a pop he was gone. She turned back towards the island and her eyes widened as she took in the devastation. In the dark the destruction hadn't been easy to see and she'd acted purely on the dark instinct to destroy all those who dared mock her suffering by giving their compassion to the monster that had tried to take away something nearly as precious as her life. She felt the water touch her feet as the tide rose and something brushed against it. Instinctively she looked down and saw herself looking at the body of a boy no more than three years old with silver hair his eyes closed, clearly dead. Her body began to shake as she remembered the toddler back at the hideout waiting for her. How could she ever look at him or hold him again after doing this to someone who looked so much like him? She fell to her knees as the reality of what she'd done crashed over her.

"No… this isn't what I wanted." She whimpered clutching her head as the memories of their screams entered her mind. "This isn't what I wanted!" she screamed a burst of chakra flying from her and flattening what was left of the area around her.

She heard another song nearby and nearly fell over as Takuma appeared beside her.

"What an impressive display." He murmured glancing over the island. "I wasn't expecting you to do this much damage. The Black Water was just the push you needed."

Her eyes widened. "What?" she whimpered.

"I knew you were powerful but you surpassed my expectations." He grinned. "What an excellent weapon you are."

His words cut her to the bone. He'd planned it, all of it. This was one of his sick experiments and she'd performed better than he expected. It was all too much for her and she fell forward onto the beach her body spent and her heart broken. The blonde haired man scooped her up into his arms and carried her down the beach as she began to give herself over to the darkness. "I'll be unstoppable with you at my command my Princess of Death."

Onchou stopped her hands trembling as her memory concluded. "I can't stay with you." She murmured. "Not after everything I've done."

"You're starting so sound like a stupid Uchiha." Sasuke said stopping and glaring at her. "Don't you remember how our obsession with the past nearly destroyed the future? Get over it already."

"If Takuma catches me, it's all over. Ryuu and I have to leave." She protested. "He's close, I can feel it. I can hear his song." She shuddered and fisted her hands in her hair. "His dark, twisted song."

"Hey." Naruto said coming up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "You can't keep running."

"What am I supposed to do then? I can't defeat him on my own." She replied.

"Let us help you." Naruto said gently. "We're your friends, we'll protect you just like you've protected Ryuu all this time."

"Yeah. There's no way we'll let that Takuma creep have you." Sakura agreed.

Gaara stepped forward and waited until her eyes met his. "Onchou, we will never let you fall into Takuma's hands again. We'll destroy him once and for all and free you from his hold."

"Why?" she whimpered. "Why would you do that for me?"

"Because you're important Onchou." Ryuu said wrapping his arms around her.

"Exactly." Sai replied.

She shook her head as tears streamed down her face. "You really are a bunch of idiots." She muttered before she lifted her face and smiled. "Thank you, my friends."

Naruto smiled and then turned to look at his comrades. "Alright everyone! Get in here! Group hug time!" he said wrapping his arms around her and Ryuu.

"I don't do group hugs." Sasuke replied.

"I don't do hugs at all." Gaara agreed.

"Common you two!" Sakura demanded grabbing them both by the arms and dragging them over the huddle that Sai had already joined. They grudgingly followed and joined the mass of arms and bodies as they formed a circle around the violet haired girl and silver haired boy.

"You're not alone anymore." Naruto said with a smile. "Now let's go and track this Takuma guy down. I have a couple of things I want to say to him. Using my fists of course."

"Ok, but can the hug be over now?" Ryuu asked. "I'm being crushed."

The shinobi laughed and moved away and together they returned to the village hidden in the sand to get ready to hunt Takuma down.

"We've spotted the leaf ninja. They're nearly here." Temari said as she entered the Hokage's office.

"Excellent. Send them in as soon as they arrive. Let team seven from the leaf know as well. They're probably anxious to see their comrades." Gaara said before turning his attention back to the map in front of him. The blonde woman nodded and then left the room. The red haired ninja looked at the violet haired girl next to him. "Are you nervous?" he asked as she opened her eyes her ears losing their gold color and returning to their normal pointed state with black tattoos.

"A little. I haven't spent very much time around new people until recently. It's a little daunting." She admitted as she made a mark with a pencil on the map of the land of wind. "Do you want me to conduct a more detailed search?" she asked as she connected the dots on the map. "I've narrowed it down to some place within this fifty mile circle."

"You can tighten it even further than this?" Kankuro asked studying the area. "I mean we can obviously exclude the ocean right?"

She nodded. "I can but it'll use up a lot more chakra. I do think you're right though. Even with a powerful earth and water style user with him, I don't think he could conjure up an entire island that could sustain his forces." She touched her chin. "If I had to guess, I'd say that he's probably in a place that already has some sort of foundation. Perhaps an abandoned village or ancient ruins." She said looking over the map. Her eyes widened as she recognized the name of one of the spots on the map. "No way." She murmured. "That's…." she started to sway on her feet and the world began to spin.

"Onchou! Are you alright?" Gaara exclaimed reaching out to catch her as she began to collapse tripping over his desk in the process.

"Hey! Everyone's here!" Naruto exclaimed barging into the room his arm wrapped around the waist of a pretty girl with long blue hair and light lavender colored eyes. Both of their eyes widened as they took in the sight in front of them.

"Are we interrupting something?" The Uzamaki asked blushing slightly.

"This is ridiculous." Kankuro replied hanging his head slightly with his hand partially covering is face.

Temari walked in behind the couple and snickered with Shikimaru at her side. "I totally approve little brother but you have to take the time and place into consideration."

Gaara couldn't speak at the moment too shocked at the predicament he found himself in. He was on the ground hovering over Onchou with one forearm braced on the floor with his other hand cradling her head the part of her he'd been trying to prevent from hitting the hard floor. He'd accomplished his goal but now their eyes were both wide locked on one another, nose to nose unable to move their cheeks blazing. Just one slight motion by either of them and their lips would touch just like before. That thought had his muscles paralyzed unable to move away as he stared into her enchanting amethyst eyes.

"What's going on? Did something happen to Onchou? I told her not to push it!" Sakura demanded walking in with Sasuke. Her eyes widened at the sight and then her gaze met Temari's and they dissolved into a fit of giggles. "Oh man if Ryuu was here…"

"What about me?" the ruby eyed boy asked pushing inside. His eyes widened at the sight and an ominous aura filled the room. His silver hair whipped upward and his ruby eyes flashed as water whips appeared twitching like the tentacles of an octopus around him.

"Oh crap!" Naruto muttered.

"RACOON EYES! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY ONCHOU!?" He roared in a voice that seemed too loud and too dark to come from his slight body.

The sound of his voice finally reached the couple and they scrambled away from one another.

"Ryuu! It's not what it looks like!" Onchou exclaimed as the Kazekage jumped to his feet and helped her up. "I was falling and when he tried to catch me he tripped and fell too."

"Like I believe that!" he growled as water whip slashed forward.

"Ryuu!" Naruto exclaimed jumping on the kid. "Calm down!" he was quickly thrown off by another water whip.

"Shikimaru." Temari said with a long suffering sigh. "That kid can't kill Gaara but he can make a big mess. Would you mind?"

The dark eyed shinobi clad in black with an army green jacket sighed and lifted his hands. "Yeah. I'm on it." He said forming hand signs. "What a drag. Shadow Paralysis Jutsu!" he exclaimed freezing the child in place.

Ryuu glared at the man and then sighed his water falling to the floor before he turned his murderous gaze on the Kazekage who was still trying to regain his composure. "I'll get you for this!" he promised.

"I am so sorry!" Onchou muttered covering her face. "This is all my fault."

"It's not your fault." Kankuro argued. "Accidents happen. This one just happened to be a super awkward."

"Moving on." Gaara said brushing off his clothes and quickly working to get his heartrate under control. "Let the rest of the Leaf ninja inside so we can get introductions out of the way and so we can get to discussing strategy."

In a matter of moments, there were twelve leaf ninja inside the room along with Temari, Kankuro, Onchou, Ryuu and Gaara.

"I guess we'll go first since there's less of us." Onchou said smiling nervously. "My name is Onchou and this is Ryuu." She said laying her hand on the ruby eyed child who was still glaring daggers at the Kazekage. "Ryuu, please pay attention to the Leaf Ninja." She said softly. "They're good friends of Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Sasuke."

The child sighed. "Fine." He muttered turning to focus on the ninja assembled in front of them.

A man with black hair and thick eyebrows wearing a green jumpsuit, orange legwarmers and an army green jacket bowed respectfully being the first in line. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rock Lee."

Onchou nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you."

The girl standing next to him with her brown hair pulled up into buns on their side of her head spoke next. "My name is TenTen." She said with an easy smile. "You can call this guy Lee if you want." She said pointing with her thumb to the man with orange leg warmers.

"Thanks for the clarification." Onchou said with a smile. She could tell from their soul songs that they were each recovering from a significant loss but that they were dependable and courageous people.

Next to TenTen was a boy with a mess of brown spikes and red marks on both of his cheeks. "My name is Kiba and this is Akamaru." He said motioning to the large white dog at his side.

"Onchou! That dog is huge!" Ryuu exclaimed excitedly.

Happy to see he was acting his age again Onchou smiled. "Yes he is." She heard loyalty and strong instincts coming from the man and a large, genuine heart. "Maybe if you ask, he'll let you touch him, but not right now ok?" The ruby eyed child nodded excitedly.

The next one to speak was a young man wearing goggles with a high necked jacket under a hooded coat in spite of the desert heat. "I am Shino." He said simply. His song was a little harder to understand being a little more complicated than most. She could tell however that he was very versatile both in mind and with his ninjutsu.

"Nice to meet you Shino." She replied with an easy smile.

Next to the goggle wearing man was a woman with light blonde hair and clear blue eyes. "I'm Ino." She said with a smile. "Sai's girlfriend."

Onchou smiled and bit back a chuckle. This girl's song was loud, bossy, and very self-centered. There was some sweetness to it as well as fierce loyalty. The violet haired girl had a feeling that they would probably never understand each other. She just didn't have that kind of confidence but they would be able to work together.

"He's a perfect gentleman. You're a lucky girl." She replied with a smile.

Next to her was a large man with long brown hair and red swirls on his face. "I'm Chouji." He said with a wide smile. "Nice to meet you." Onchou instantly smiled back. His song was light, happy, and bright. It instantly made her feel at ease.

"I'm very pleased to meet you." She replied.

Next came the man standing next to Temari. He was tall with dark hair pulled into a high pony tail and pierced ears. "I'm Shikimaru." He said. "Nice to meet you Onchou."

"I'm pleased to meet you. I've heard about you from the others." She replied. His song was laid back and slow yet it wasn't simple at all indicating that he was highly intelligent. Now that they were together, she could hear how it wanted to harmonize with Temari's song and smirked. The tension wasn't as high as it had been between Sasuke and Sakura but it was defiantly there.

The blue haired girl at Naruto's side was last to speak. "My name is Hinata. Thank you for looking after Naruto. I hope he wasn't any trouble." She said softly.

Onchou smiled at the girl. From her song it was clear the girl's heart was the size of a mountain and made of pure gold. Sweet as a rose and just as beautiful. "I've heard a lot about you." She replied. "I'm glad to meet you. I'm pretty sure I caused more trouble than Naruto."

The young woman smiled and blushed as she looked up at her blonde boyfriend making the amethyst eyed girl beam. Their harmony was beautiful and clear with a rare bond that linked them soul to soul. It made her happy to see how happy they were.

"Now that that's out of the way," Kankuro said. "Let's discuss what we have so far." He said motioning for them to gather around the map splayed out on the desk. "Using Onchou's unique abilities we've been able to narrow down Takuma's position to someplace within this circle." He said pointing to the map. "We've also been able to exclude the ocean due to the fact that there are no islands in those waters and making would be more trouble than it's worth."

"I'm pretty sure I know where he is." Onchou said.

"Where?" Gaara asked.

She pointed to a spot on the map. "Here." The group shifted to get a better view of the spot.

"Heiwa." Naruto said aloud. "Wait a second isn't that…"

Onchou nodded. "That's right. It's the village where I grew up." She replied softly.

"What makes you so sure that he's there?" Shikimaru asked.

"It has all of the basic things he needs like established roadways, water ways, and buildings. Even if most of it was destroyed, the foundation would still be there. There's also a large series of underground passage ways which would be perfect for him to hide his forces and conceal his movements. In addition, the village itself has very intricate and has powerful protections in place. Once inside it would be almost impossible for someone to disturb him without being detected." She said gritting her teeth.

Gaara nodded. "I see. It's worth looking in to."

"I don't know. If he's really after world domination, wouldn't it make sense for him to be further inland?" Kiba asked.

The violet haired teen shook her head. "I don't think so. For some reason, he's been obsessed with me and my powers going to the extent that he killed my family and kidnapped me. It was clear he knew about my clan which means he'd know the village we came from by default." She took a deep breath. "If he knew that much, there's a chance he might even know about 'that' as well."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

The amethyst eyed girl sighed and leaned forward bracing her hands on the desk. "My village was one of the first ones established in The Land of Wind." She replied. "When The Village Hidden in the Sand was created, Heiwa was one of the first villages added to its list of places to protect. There's a reason for that." She took a deep breath. "Beneath the village is something called The Guardian's Stone."

"The Guardian's Stone. What is that?" Kiba asked.

"A legendary stone that contains an unimaginable amount of chakra." Gaara replied. "It's said that there is only one person on the earth at a time that is able to access and wield that power. That person is known as The Guardian and when using the power of the stone is supposed to be able to have God like powers."

The room quieted as his words sank in. After a few moments Naruto spoke. "Well that sounds dangerous. We can't let Takuma get his hands on that kind of power." He turned to Onchou. "Who is this Guardian person?"

"The Guardian is whomever the previous Guardian chooses to give their power to. I don't know who that is." She replied.

"So if Takuma gets his hands on The Guardian, and makes them give him his power, he'll have access to it?" Shikimaru clarified.

She nodded. "It's no quite that simple, but basically yes but I don't think he'd do that."

"Why not?" Gaara asked.

Her brow furrowed slightly. "From what my grandmother told me, there's a price that has to be paid in exchange for access to that power. Takuma isn't the type to make sacrifices of any kind to get what he wants. My guess is that he'll find The Guardian and either use them directly or force them to give their power to one of his underlings and use them instead."

"How did your grandmother know about a price having to be paid?" Sai asked.

Onchou shrugged. "I'm guessing it was because my grandfather was the village headman and as his wife she was privy to that sort of thing. It wasn't something we talked about. She always got really defensive when I asked." She replied.

"Well, it's a place to start at least." Shikimaru agreed. "How do you want to do his?"

Temari touched her chin. "Onchou, that team that attacked Suna, how strong were they compared to the rest of Takuma's forces?" she asked.

The amethyst eyed girl tilted her head a little and then glanced down at Ryuu. "They were one of his best teams for sure. However in terms of power and ability they were at the bottom as far as the top agents go." She said. "Do you agree?" she asked the silver haired child.

He nodded. "Yeah. They were strong alright but they're not even close to the same level that Wraith, Blood Rain, Soul Stealer, Heart Taker, and Nightmare are working at."

"Those five are known as The Fatal Five." Onchou said. "They make what those three did seem like child's play. They're Takuma's personal guard dogs." She crossed her arms over her chest as her brow furrowed.

"That's not good." Sakura muttered. "Those three were a handful for us."

"Yeah." Onchou murmured. "Not even taking into account all of the Dolls he'll have at his disposal, we'll have one tough battle on our hands."

Gaara took a deep breath. "In that case, I suggest that everyone here except Ryuu will stay here while the rest of us go investigate Heiwa. We'll have a second group made up of sand shinobi on standby ready to send in more teams from the sand village just in case something goes wrong."

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Temari asked. "Is it really necessary to send that many?"

Sasuke nodded. "I think so. If that really is where their main forces are located then it'll be best to take them out right away. This group is more than capable of putting a large dent in their numbers. The Dolls are troublesome but can't use chakra so the backup forces should have no trouble taking them down. We'll need everyone here to take down Takuma's more elite forces."

"What about Onchou?" Shikimaru asked. "Is she coming as well?"

Gaara nodded. "She'll make up the fourth member of my team."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" the shadow wielder asked. "If Takuma is after her, wouldn't it make more sense to leave her here where it's safe with Ryuu?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Onchou has unique abilities that allow her to track Takuma's location from a distance. She's also been a part of his organization and knows our enemy better than anyone."

Sakura nodded. "She's a skilled medical ninja. The more we have with us the better especially with how strong the last ones we fought were."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, and she's a pretty good fighter too."

"We can't afford to leave her behind." Sai agreed.

Temari smirked and slung her arm around the shadow ninja. "She's a pretty kick ass woman like myself. She'll be just fine." She said winking at the violet haired girl who smiled and blushed.

"Alright. If you say so." Shikimaru agreed.

"Very well. We'll spend the rest of the day preparing and resting. We'll leave tomorrow at first light." Gaara instructed. "Onchou, Shikimaru, Temari, and Sasuke you stay with me to work out some strategy details. The rest of you are dismissed."

As the Leaf ninja began to filter out of the room Sasuke couldn't help but notice how Kiba and Lee both shifted towards Sakura quickly starting up a conversation about what had happened in the village during her absence. Irritation flowed through him as he watched Kiba lightly touch her on the arm grinning broadly while Lee told her how beautiful she'd become during her time away.

The medical ninja smiled at the two and then glanced back at him her eyes filled with longing. Sasuke was a possessive man however he was not one to openly show affection in front of people unless it was to tease the pink haired medic. Though his impulsive side wanted to pull her to him and kiss her senseless in front of the two love sick boys, his more rational side reminded him that it wasn't the time or the place. Still he wanted to do something, anything to show them that she was no longer 'on the market' not that she ever had really. He reminded himself smugly, her heart had always belonged to him.

Their eyes met and he walked forward until he was right in front of her and tapped her in the middle of her forehead. "I'll see you as soon as I'm finished here." He said.

She nodded. "Alright. I'll be looking forward to it." She said giving him a look that made him want to throw her up against the wall and kiss her until she was moaning his name. The smirk she offered him was proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and he shook his head before she left with the rest of the leaf ninja.

Temari laughed. "And I thought the tension between you two was bad before." She chuckled. "It's even worse now. I bet you wanted the throw her up against the wall didn't you Uchiha?"

Shikimaru raised a brow and then snickered as he looked at the blonde and then at Sasuke. "Well it's about damn time." He muttered. "We were seriously considering locking you two in a room. Kakashi had everything planned out. It was called 'Operation, get rid of the annoying sexual tension'."

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped. "You and Temari are just as bad."

The two shinobi's eyes widened and then blushed. "That was not an image I needed in my head." Kankuro muttered.

"Shall we get this meeting underway so we can prepare ourselves for tomorrow as well?" Gaara said softly.

They nodded and bent over the maps as they worked out the best approach of the village, and team arrangements.

"So what's going on between you and Sasuke?" Ino demanded as the pair walked out of the Kazekage's building with the rest of the Leaf ninja.

Sakura blushed and pressed her fingers to her lips. "Shh! If Naruo hears you he'll make a scene." She muttered glancing around smiling before she cleared her throat and raised her voice slightly. "Hey guys, so I actually have a vaccine that I've been developing that I need to bring with us tomorrow so I'm going to head over and grab it."

"Sounds good." Naruto said with a smile. "Want to meet at that place Gaara took us to our first day here in about an hour? They should be done with that meeting of theirs by then."

"Yeah. Sounds great." She replied.

"Do you need an escort?" Lee asked. "I'd be happy to lend my assistance."

"No, that's alright. Ino is going with me." She replied.

TenTen immediately locked eyes with the blonde who nodded. "You know, I think I'll tag along." She said. "Do you want to come Hinata? The boys can run along and play somewhere else."

The bluenette immediately got the message and nodded. "I think I will. I'll see you later Naruto." She said with a smile.

He nodded and leaned down kissing her soundly making the shy girl blush.

"Common Naruto!" Kiba whined. "In public?!"

The Uzamaki simply grinned and pulled away and whispered in Hinata's ear making the girl blush even darker. "See you later." He assured here. "Have fun."

The four girls left the boys behind and as soon as they were out of earshot, Ino turned on Sakura again. "Spill it billboard brow!" She ordered. "What's going on between you and Sasuke?"

The pink haired medic sighed and blushed. "Well, we're together now." She replied.

"Yes!" TenTen exclaimed. "It's about time!"

"I'm so happy for you." Hinata said beaming. "I was worried for a little while. I mean you did so much for me and Naruto. I was afraid you wouldn't get your chance too. I'm so glad you're together at last!"

Ino chuckled. "Well I guess it's official. I lost. The one that nabbed Sasuke Uchiha's heart was you." She wrapped her arms around her friend and held her tight. "I'm so glad it was you even if I _am_ jealous as hell."

"Why would you be jealous?" TenTen asked. "You have Sai right?"

The blonde shrugged and flipped her hair. "Well of course, but Sasuke was my first love. The fact that I never received an ounce of affection from him is a little dent in my self-esteem." She replied.

TenTen rolled her eyes as they approached the hospital and went inside making their way down to the lab.

"How much do you want to bet that Temari and Shikimaru are totally going to hook up tonight?" Ino asked.

Sakura chuckled. "I'll bet my bottom dollar." She replied. "The other day we were talking about it and she seemed pretty determined about not waiting for him to get off his lazy ass and do something about it."

TenTen laughed. "Those two would make a seriously awesome kid together. Can you imagine someone with Shikimaru's brain and Temari's fangs? Talk about a force to be reckoned with."

Hinata and Sakura smiled and nodded. Ino however had her hand on her chin. "You know, I haven't seen Gaara much, but even so, he seems a lot different from the last time I met him. He almost seemed flustered when we walked in. What's up with that? He's always been so cool and collected. I kinda had a thing for him at one time." She murmured.

"Ino, is there a boy in the ninja world that you haven't had a thing for?" TenTen asked.

"Yes. Two actually. Shino and Rock Lee. No thank you." The blonde replied flipping her hair.

Sakura thought for a moment and then burst out laughing as she gathered up the three doses of her vaccine she'd created and put them in her medicine bag. "You didn't see what happened right before you came in." she laughed. "You saw Onchou right?"

"The girl with purple hair right?" TenTen clarified.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. Well when I walked into the office ahead of you guys, she was lying flat on her back on the floor and guess who was on top of her? The Kazekage himself."

Ino's eyes widened. "No way!" Ino exclaimed. "Cool, collected, never looks twice at a girl Gaara!?"

Sakura nodded. "It was an accident, she was falling, he tried to catch her and ended up on top of her sort of thing but man you should've seen their faces." She laughed harder. "I swear that mark on his forehead nearly disappeared he was blushing so bad."

"Wait, are you saying that Gaara and this Onchou chick are an item?" the blonde asked.

"Not officially." Sakura replied. "But there's definitely chemistry between them. You saw it didn't you?" she asked.

Hinata nodded. "He kept looking at her during the meeting." She smiled. "Onchou is very beautiful isn't she?"

Sakura nodded. "She is, inside and out."

"I heard a little about her story during the meetings before we came here." TenTen said. "Her life sounds like it's been rough."

"Yes it has, but she's still moving forward like a champ." Sakura replied. "That's why this mission is so important. Takuma has been haunting her for most of her life. Once he's out of the way, she'll finally be free."

The girls nodded and walked back out of the laboratory making their way slowly towards he designated meeting place.

Ino sighed. "I feel like I haven't seen Sai in so long." She whined. "Does he have a thing for this Onchou chick?" she asked.

Sakura chuckled. "Of course not. They're just friends."

TenTen sighed. "Seriously girl. Not every girl wants your man."

Ino stuck her tongue out. "Hey! Do you have any idea how many girls came out of the woodwork after the war?!" she demanded. "Besides, he's so handsome, what girl wouldn't want him?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "So do you want Onchou to like him or something?"

The girl blushed. "That's not it! I'm just saying…"

The pink haired medic shook her head. "Well, he was her personal body guard for quite a few days while we were here. She was working on a top secret report so it was just the two of them locked in a little room in the library for hours on end."

"Seriously!?" Ino asked her face paling. "You don't think something happened do you?" she muttered.

Sakura glanced at TenTen and the pair of them started laughing. "You're way too easy to tease." The pink haired medic said between giggles. "But seriously, Sai only has eyes for you. You know that better than anyone right?"

TenTen sighed "Man, tonight is going to suck for me." She whined lacing her fingers together and putting them behind her head.

"Why is that?" Hinata asked as they wove their way through the streets of Suna.

"Because I'm going to end up stuck with Lee, Chouji, Kiba, and Shino while the rest of you have fun with your boys." She replied.

Sakura and Hinata blushed while Ino smirked. "Are you implying it's going to be a scorcher in Suna tonight?" The blonde asked with a wink.

"Yup." TenTen replied.

"Are you lonely TenTen?" Hinata asked. "I'm sure we could find someone suitable for you."

The brown haired girl shook her head. "No. I'm not interested in that kind of stuff." She said. Her eyes focusing on a sunflower in the window of one of Suna's only flower stands. Moisture shimmered in her brown eyes as she turned away trembling a little. "Not anymore."

"TenTen." Sakura murmured her own eyes misting with tears. She knew, she was one of the few that knew the feelings her friend held for her fallen teammate. TenTen had come to her days after his funeral on the verge of a mental breakdown begging for her help. She confessed that not only was she in love with Neji but that he had reciprocated her feelings they had been dating in secret for nearly a year up until his death. Even now, she didn't even know if Hinata knew about their relationship and wasn't about to say anything either.

Ino sighed and tapped her foot. "Their selection is awful compared to ours." She muttered oblivious to the exchange or trying to alleviate the tension the emerald eyed girl wasn't sure which as she looked at the flowers herself.

"It is a desert." Hinata said softly. "I image that cultivating flowers would be rather difficult."

The blonde shrugged and then turned as her name was called.

"What's up Shikimaru?" she replied as he, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Sasuke, Onchou and Ryuu walked up to them.

"Just hoping to round up the rest of the crew." He replied. "Where did the boys run off to?"

"I don't know." She replied. "We're supposed to meet them in thirty minutes at a restaurant though."

"Sounds good to me. Let's head over." He said. Temari brushed her hand against his and he smirked in response. The fan user met Sakura's eyes and winked making the medic grin.

"A scorcher in Suna indeed." She muttered as they walked to the restaurant.

P.S. Holy smokes that took a lot longer than I thought it would. Sorry about that. I also apologize for the lack of romance in this chapter. This is mostly setting things up for the climax of the story so it was information packed. Sorry, again. Anyway, the next chapter should definitely satisfy your hunger for warm fuzzies, fluff and heat from multiple pairings so look forward to it! Like I said this week is insane for me so no promises on how long it'll take and such but I promise you it will be worth it! Thanks for reading!


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Notes: Ok people. Fasten your seatbelts! It's going to be a bumpy ride! This next chapter is going to be full of multiple pairings and therefore multiple points of view. Please bear with me and I'll do my best to try to make the transitions as smooth as possible. Thanks for all of the support so far! I was asked about yaoi parings and I'm sorry but that's something I have no experience in so I'm not even going to attempt it in this story. I'm sorry. Truly I am. In addition I apologize if it seems like Onchou is the main character. The mission kind of revolves around her and her past so it can't exactly be helped at the moment but I am trying my best to make it balanced. Anyway, on with the story!

#8#

Sasuke sat next to Sakura tension rolling off him in waves as he watched the people around him. The Uchiha had never been a very social person, choosing to spend most of his time alone or with a select few people that he felt particularly close to. Being in a restaurant surrounded by his old classmates, The Kazekage and his family, along with Onchou and Ryuu was daunting but manageable. However, the Konoha Twelve as they were known had made quite a name for themselves during the Fourth great ninja war so their names and faces were well known and admired the world over. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro were the children of the former Kazekage and with the sand wielder as the current Village head, they attracted a large amount of attention as well. The buzz they created while gathered together was enormous and the little restaurant was packed full of not just the elite ninja but hordes of admirers desperate to catch a glimpse of the legendary war heroes.

He glanced around the table and his eyes met Onchou's seated directly across the table from him who cringed at a particularly loud peal of laughter coming from Ino as she clutched Sai's arm. The violet haired girl offered him a sympathetic smile and he felt a little tension leave his body as he realized she was probably just as uncomfortable as he was.

"Sasuke, you're more quiet than normal. Is something wrong?" Sakura asked.

He shrugged. "It's fine." He replied quickly.

"Ok then." She replied. "I'm going to the rest room. We can leave when we get back if you want. I've already eaten my fill."

He snorted knowing that it wasn't the truth. She was only suggesting it for his sake. "We don't have to." He protested.

She leaned towards him and cupped her hand around her mouth. "Look, we both know that Naruto and Hinata aren't going to last much longer and Ino is all over Sai. If we slip out first…"

He smirked and nodded. They would have the first chance at their room and that would make all the Hell he'd been through over the past forty five minutes worth it. His mouth was already watering at the thought of having his lips on her skin. "Ok. Don't take too long." He replied softly.

The pink haired medic winked at him and rose to her feet and slipped past him letting her finger tips trail lightly over the skin at the base of his neck. A shiver ran through his body and he shook his head at her as she sauntered away.

"Tease." He muttered under his breath as he shifted in his seat. He was surprised when Hinata moved to the seat Sakura had left and leaned towards him, her cheeks blazing as she whispered. "Naruto said that you two have thirty minutes from the time you leave."

Sasuke's brow arched and then he glanced at his friend shooting him a death glare. The Uzamaki merely shrugged in response indicating that he didn't really care about his opinion. The Uchiha sighed, it was a fair trade he supposed. He'd had Sakura by his side the entire time they'd been on this mission. Naruto had been separated from Hinata for weeks. It was only natural that the two of them would have a little more frustration to work out. Reluctantly he nodded and the blue haired girl bowed slightly and then slid back to her own seat blushing furiously when the blond wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. Besides, he and Sakura had already decided that they weren't quite ready to take the next step in their relationship. Any more than thirty minutes alone in a room with her would probably be a little rough for them anyway.

He blinked in surprise when Onchou threw a dinner roll at him from across the table.

"Seriously?!" he hissed picking it up and putting it on his plate.

"Sakura needs you." The girl replied trying to keep her voice down.

He glanced towards the front of the room expecting to see her there and was surprised when she wasn't. His gaze turned back to Onchou a little frown of confusion on his face. She stomped on his foot under the table and he hissed.

"What the Hell?!" he ground out between his clenched teeth.

She jabbed her fingers in the direction of her ears and then jerked her thumb in the direction of the bathrooms. "Go now you stupid Uchiha or I will!"

His eyes widened as it dawned on him what she was saying. Onchou had hearing that put bats to shame. It only made sense that she would be able to hear that Sakura was in trouble when he couldn't. He quickly stood from his chair and nodded to her before he dashed out of the room and towards the bathrooms.

The doors to both were situated down a narrow, dimly lit hallway. He instinctively activated his sharringan and his blood turned to lava in his veins as he found Sakura trapped at the end of the hallway with a man he didn't recognize pressed up against her with his hands wrapped around her slim wrists pressing them to the wall behind them.

"Common baby! Come home with me. I've seen you around and I think you're the prettiest girl in all of Suna." He cooed pressing his face to her hair.

"Let go of me! Don't make me hurt you!" she growled.

"Ha! A little girl like you hurt me? What a joke." He chuckled.

The sound of metal sliding against metal echoed through the small hallway as well as the sound of electricity crackling as Sasuke drew his katana and funneled lightning chakra into the blade. He pointed it at the man with the tip a breath away from his back as his demonic looking red eyes bored into the man.

"Get away from her now." He demanded his voice as cold as ice and dripping with venom.

"Sasuke." Sakura breathed her voice filled with relief.

The man glanced back at the former rouge ninja his eyes widening with fear as he recognized the man clad in black. "Sasuke Uchiha." He stammered.

"I won't ask again." The raven haired man replied. "Get your filthy hands off of her right now."

The man shakily nodded and took a step away with his hands raised. The raven haired man sheathed his sword and took two quick steps forward his arms slightly outstretched towards the rose haired medic. Using his sharringan he quickly checked her for injuries thankful when he saw none. Her eyes shimmered a little with unshed tears as she stumbled into his arms. He held her gently angry as hell that the man had frightened her this much and had touched what belonged to him. With all the tenderness he could muster he pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Are you ok, Sakura?" he asked softly.

She nodded. "I'm fine now. Thank you."

He felt a little better and then turned towards the man his gaze murderous. "Get out of my sight!" he growled.

"Right." The man stammered as he turned and stumbled down the hall.

"Let's go." Sasuke said shifting so that his hand was in hers their fingers laced together as they quickly walked out of the restaurant and onto the dark streets. He quickly swept her up into his arms and took to the rooftops gliding with incredible speed towards their hotel.

"Sasuke you can put me down." She said.

"Quiet!" he snapped as his feet touched down on the roof of their hotel. He quickly carried her down to their room and only once the door was locked behind them did he allow her feet to touch the ground.

"Sasuke." She said again her voice full of concern. Without a word he pulled her wrists to his face and kissed the gently. She blushed at the act and she spoke again. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I couldn't put you down because if I had, I would've hunted that bastard down and warped him into oblivion." He said softly though his tone was dark.

The pink haired medic's eyes widened and then softened as she reached out and touched his cheek urging him to look at her with the slight pressure of her fingers. "I'm ok. I promise." She replied. "He caught me off guard was all." She chuckled a little moisture coming to her eyes. "You know, if someone comes at me trying to kill me I feel hardly any fear, but when guys look at me like that, I get an awful feeling that makes it hard for me to move. Is that weird?"

The dark haired Uchiha blinked and then shook his head. "Not really. When someone is trying to kill you, all of the training kicks in and your body knows exactly what to do so there's no room for fear."

She nodded and then sighed and leaned forward resting her hands and face on his chest. "Thank you for saving me." She said softly.

He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her gently. "Anytime." He replied. His hand clenched as he remembered the fear in her eyes. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asked. "Did he touch you anywhere?"

She took a deep breath stepped out of his embrace. Her hands went to the hem of her short sleeved green shirt and she quickly pulled it over her head revealing a simple blue bra. Her hands then went to her white pants and she quickly shimmied out of them revealing a matching pair of panties. She smiled at him her emerald eyes filled with warmth and held her arms out. "Come check for yourself. I know you won't feel better until you do."

Sasuke blinked in surprise and then smiled at her. She knew him so well. "Alright." He replied activating his sharringan once again. With determined strides, he circled her checking for any signs of trauma and felt satisfied when his sight confirmed that she was indeed unharmed.

His hands then went to his own shirt pulling it over his head before he reached for her and pulled her to him kissing her soundly. The kiss quickly heated up when her tongue traced his lips and he opened his mouth so their tongues could dance. He shivered in response and guided them over to his bed where he laid her down gently and hovered over her. "Sakura, we only have fifteen minutes alone here." He said softly.

"How could you possibly know that?" she asked.

He cringed. "Don't worry about it. I just want to spend the rest of the time we have erasing the memory of that man from your mind. Would you let me?" he asked.

She blinked clearly a little confused by his words but nodded. "Yes. I trust you." She said softly.

He nodded and laid his lips on hers again savoring the feeling of her lips on his. His lips kissed a warm trail along her jaw to her neck and made their way down towards her collar bone. Using lips, tongue and teeth he marked her as his leaving a dark red mark on the side of her neck. Satisfied with his work, he moved down to her collar bone kissing gently and then running his tongue over the same path. A contented sigh came from her lips and he smiled in response. He brought his lips back to hers and trailed his fingertips down her neck over the soft swell of her breasts and over her rib cage mapping her curves with his touch. He groaned when his fingers brushed over the cotton between her legs and gripped her thighs.

"Sakura." He murmured. "You are so beautiful. Absolutely perfect." He lifted his head just to catch a glimpse of her blush and smirked in response. He moved himself off of her and slid down to the edge of the bed.

"Sasuke?" Sakura questioned sitting up slightly to catch a glimpse of him. Her cheeks blazed when he grabbed her by the foot and kissed the tip of her big toe. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Close your eyes and be quiet." He instructed as he moved his lips down the inside of her foot to her ankle. "Just focus on me." He continued kissing down the length of her calf kissing and stroking the soft skin earning moans and gasps of pleasure in response. He then moved his attention to her thighs kissing towards her core.

"Sasuke!" Sakura whimpered as he brushed the cotton of her panties with his nose. There was both fear and excitement in her voice arousing him further, tempting him to remove the rest of her clothes. However, he pushed the instinct away knowing that they only had a few minutes left and that every second was dedicated to the girl in front of him. Dedicated to erasing the slime ball's touch from her memory and replacing it with his own. Searing into both her body and mind who she belonged to.

He continued upward focusing his attention on her stomach kissing and licking across the smooth planes. He found that just below her belly button was a particularly sensitive spot and focused his attention there for a few moments drinking in her soft cries and the way her muscles trembled under his tongue. "Sakura, you are so cute." He said with a chuckled as he worked over the ticklish places along her ribs.

"Don't tease me." She replied breathlessly as he squeezed her breasts and kissed the mounds over the fabric of her bra. He silently cursed the whiskered idiot for limiting their time so that he didn't have time to give them the attention they deserved as he kissed up over her collarbones and shoulders. His lips suckled at the spot he'd left on her neck darkening it further before he brought his lips back to hers and kissed her with all of the passion he felt for her but didn't have time to show in the ways he wanted as he activated his eye power and silently searched for the chakra signatures he was sure were on their way. Right on cue he sensed a bright energetic chakra accompanied by a cooler, more flexible chakra signature. With a sigh he pulled away from her and tapped her in the middle of her forehead.

"Common. That idiot and Hinata are almost here." He said handing her the clothes she'd discarded earlier. She nodded and began pulling on her clothes and turned to smile at him. As she did so, the face of the child from his dream appeared in his mind and his eyes widened as he recognized similarities in their features. The wideness of the forehead, the large eyes, the set of her lips. "Sakura." He murmured putting his arms around her. "When we get back to The Leaf Village, would it be alright if I met your parents?" he asked.

She blinked in surprise as she handed him his shirt. "That's fine by me but why?" she asked.

"I want… I want to do this properly." He muttered taking her hands in his. "I… I know I'm not good at expressing how I feel. I'm also a loner with a dark side who probably threw the biggest temper tantrum in history and took angsty teenager to a ridiculous level but…. I… I want to be with you." He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth gathering his courage and then opened them again and reached out to tap her in the middle of her forehead. "I love you Sakura." He said softly. It was the first time he'd said those words to her directly while looking her in the eyes. Tears slid down her face in response and she reached for him

"Sasuke." She murmured kissing him gently. "I love you too."

"I know." He replied with a tiny smirk.

The pink haired medic brushed the hair out of his face. "Sasuke, I also have a request for when we get back."

"What is it?" he asked. He wasn't afraid. He'd give her anything she asked for if it was in his power to do so.

"Will you take me to meet your parents and Itachi?" she asked. "I want to pay them my respects."

His eyes widened and then softened as his heart swelled in his chest. He didn't deserve her, this was further proof of it. "Yeah." He replied. "I'd really like that."

She smiled. "It's a date then."

The sound of pounding on the door startled both of them shattering the warm mood their last moment had brought them.

"For crying out loud!" Sasuke hissed pulling on his shirt as Sakura stood. He stalked over to the door and yanked it open finding himself face to face with the blonde Uzamaki and his startled looking girlfriend. "Mood killer." He growled as Sakura came up beside him.

"Let's go to the laboratory." She medic suggested. "I want to make sure I have enough of everything."

"Sure." Sasuke replied walking out of the room. "Remember that we all need to sleep tonight so don't take too long ok?" he said before leaving the room hand in hand with the girl he loved.

3 # 3

Ino noticed immediately when Sakura left the table whispering in Sasuke's ear and the little smile that touched his lips and the light that came to his mismatched brooding eyes. Less than ten minutes later he left the table in a hurry and never came back.

Naruto snorted. "That was even faster than I thought. Time to start the timer." He said nudging Hinata who blushed.

"Don't you think you're being a little cruel?" The bluenettet asked her boyfriend. "I mean, I just wanted to spend time with you alone. We don't need to go to your room for that."

Ino smirked. She'd been dead right about the two. Hinata was a perfect princess so she knew they were waiting until marriage to take the next step. Naruto was a pervert but he was a gentleman at heart and loved Hinata more than anything so though she was sure waiting was hard for the Uzamaki, he waited anyway.

The blonde chuckled. "Yeah, I know that, but you haven't had to live with them the past little while. I caught them making out in the elevator once you know! It's so… weird." He admitted.

"What's so weird about it?" Shino asked. "Sakura has been in love with Sasuke since they were children."

Naruto sighed and scratched his head. "Well yeah, but…" he sighed. "Sakura, she's like the sister I never had." He admitted. "I mean, we're super close and I care about her a lot. Sasuke and I are basically brothers too. So having your brother and sister doing that sort of thing is just…."

Kiba wrinkled his nose. "We get it. Please don't explain anymore." He muttered and then sighed. "I lost. There's no way I have a chance with her now."

"Do not give up hope Kiba!" Lee exclaimed as a river of tears streamed down his cheeks. "We are still in the midst of our youth! There is always a chance that Sakura's heart will come to me! I mean you."

Ino gripped Sai's arm and noted the fake smile he gave his friends as they talked.

"We all should've known that Sakura's dedication would pay off." TenTen said sipping on her drink. "I mean, even when he went totally psycho and nearly murdered her she still loved him and had faith he'd come back. If anyone deserves him, it's her."

Heads bobbed in agreement around the table and her grip on Sai's arm tightened as a lump formed in her throat and tears stung her eyes. The painter seemed to notice and looked down at her.

"You seem troubled." He said softly.

"So do you." She replied. "Should we go?"

He blinked and then nodded. Quickly rising from their spots at the table. "We're going to head out now." Ino said with a smile.

"Ok." Shikamaru replied. "Team ten is staying in the guest house attached to the Kazekage's residence. Don't be out too late."

"Yes daddy dear." Ino replied flipping her hair as she rolled her eyes. "Let's go Sai."

He nodded and the pair of them walked out onto the streets. Wordlessly Sai took her hand and tugged her up with him unto the rooftops. "Follow me." He said simply leading her across town to the edge and then charging up the side of one of the sheer cliff walls that surrounded Suna and came to a stop on a little ledge big enough for four people to sit comfortably.

"How did you find this place?" she asked.

"I came here with Naruto once to paint the stars. They're much easier to see here." He explained. He then quickly pulled her into his arms. "It's ok. No one else knows about this place and Naruto and Hinata are going to be going to the room soon. We're alone now so you can let out your tears."

Ino blinked and then gripped his sleeves. "Sai… I…"

"You don't have to pretend. I know you're hurting." He said softly.

She tightened her grip on him and a little sob escaped her throat as tears streamed down her cheeks. It hurt, more than she'd ever admit to anyone that Sasuke had chosen Sakura over her. The years they'd fought over him, the time she spent dreaming about him all felt like a waste. She knew deep down inside that what TenTen had said was right. She knew that better than anyone. Sakura had trained harder, and longer than she had to become strong enough to chase down the missing Uchiha. The pink haired medic had chased him all over the world with Naruto and fought beside him in a way that Ino knew she never could. She'd been prepared not only to die for him but kill him to save him from himself. While she herself had given up on the boy she once loved and turned her attention to Sai who looked and acted similar to the Uchiha, using him as the avenger's replacement.

When Sasuke showed up on the battlefield during the war, she'd been surprised but happy hoping that he'd come back to stay and maybe even love her. Then she'd seen her friend on the battlefield standing atop Lady Katsuyu next to Naruto and Sasuke and the cheers had rang through the crowd about the new generation Sannin, she knew then that the one best suited to the Uchiha was her best friend not her and it had cut like a knife.

When the war ended and Sasuke had been pardoned for his crimes, he decided to leave the village and travel the world to clear his mind. The day he'd been scheduled to leave she watched from a distance as Saukra had approached him and offered to go with him. Her own heart had soared when he rejected her request and she'd secretly hoped that it meant that he wasn't willing to be anyone's. But then he'd done something she didn't expect. He reached out and tapped the medic in the middle of the forehead with the gentlest smile she'd ever seen on his face and said. "I'll see you when I'm back and thank you." She'd know then that the Uchiha loved her pink haired friend and silently prayed that it was just the brotherly love that Naruto felt for the medic as well. Seeing them now though, it was obvious that the kind of love Sasuke felt for Sakura was the kind that she'd felt for the Uchiha herself, perhaps even deeper. The boy had never even looked twice at her while she'd clung to Sai hoping to see a flicker of disappointment or jealousy in his eyes, but his gaze was always fixed on the pink haired medic beside him. He would never love her like that and the thought hurt. Oh how it hurt. So here she was, crying her eyes out in the arms of the man she'd only approached because of his similarity to the boy she'd loved.

The sensation of something wet on her head quieted her sobs and she glanced up to see tears flowing down Sai's cheeks. "Sai?" she asked wiping at her face. "What's wrong?"

"I think I know how you've been feeling." He admitted. "I didn't even realize myself until I saw them together. It hurts. I didn't know that feelings could hurt like this."

Her eyes widened. "Sai…" she murmured. "You… you love Sakura don't you?"

He blinked. "I never knew." He admitted touching his cheeks seemingly shocked at the moisture there. His dark eyes looked down at hers. "Ino…" he said softly. "Forgive me, but can I ask you for a favor."

"Sure." She replied quickly. "What is it?"

"Help me." He whimpered clutching at her shoulders. "Help me forget these feelings. They hurt. So much."

Her own eyes filled with tears again as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. His eyes widened and then closed as he wrapped his arms around her waist holding her closer than he ever had before. They'd kissed before however never had they come together with their hearts fully exposed like they were now. It felt different, in a good way. Two people finally connecting on a deeper level. She pulled away and gently laid her hands on his cheeks wiping away his tears with her thumbs. "You'll never be able to forget." She said softly smiling sadly at the way his eyes widened with pain. "All you can do is move on."

"How?" he asked his voice cracking with emotion.

"Just like this." She replied holding him close. "Sai, I'm sorry for everything but I really do love you. The part of my heart that belonged to him broke tonight but the rest of it is yours."

Sai's eyes widened and he laid his head on her shoulder. "I think I know how you feel." He replied.

"Then let's start over." She said softly. "We'll move on together, ok?"

He nodded. "Ok. Thank you Ino."

She shook her head and then laid it against his chest. "No, thank you Sai."

T.T 3 T.T

Naruto snickered as Sasuke brushed past him clearly irritated pulling an apologetic looking Sakura with him.

"You two behave." Sakura called out to him before vanishing into the elevator with the Uchiha.

He chuckled and walked into the vacated room with his girlfriend in tow. Closing the door gently behind them. He helped her out of her tan jacket and hung it up before shedding his own jacket and placing it next to hers. When he turned back to face her, he found her blushing prettily looking down at her toes.

"So how have you been Naruto?" she asked softly.

The reality that they were alone in a hotel room together can crashing down on him and he blushed as well as his heart thundered in his chest. He scratched the back of his head nervously and chuckled. "I've been pretty good." He replied. "I've mostly been stuck babysitting that Ryuu kid but it's not so bad."

She nodded and smiled. "I'm not surprised. You're great with children."

He smiled. "You think so?"

The lavender eyed girl nodded. "I do. You're going to be a great father one day."

He smiled. "I hope so."

She looked up at him and he felt a swelling of love for the girl in front of him. She was so sweet, so kind, so patient and loving. How she'd put up with his obliviousness for so long was a mystery to him. Being alone with her after being away from her for so long was like breathing a deep breath of fresh air. Sai, Saskue, and Sakura were like his family for sure but Hinata was different. She was more than that. Hinata was home. Filled to the brim with emotion, he reached for her and pulled her to his chest savoring her warmth. She sighed softly and wrapped her own arms around his waist.

"I missed you Naruto." She whispered against his chest.

"I missed you too." He replied kissing the top of her head.

"I love you." Her soft voice said.

"I know. I love you too Hinata." He replied. He pulled away from her and looked down. When she raised her own head to look at him he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers gently. She froze in surprise at first and then sighed and relaxed against him. Once she'd relaxed enough, he slowly began to move his lips against hers. Hinata was a traditional girl from a powerful, old family. Physical intimacy was something she wanted to save until their wedding night and he respected that. In fact it made him love her even more. There were those that thought she was weak but he knew otherwise. She was strong and steady, never straying from the path she believed in. As much as he desired her, he would wait. That didn't mean that they weren't a passionate couple however.

He gently swept his tongue swept across her bottom lip and she gasped and sighed in response parting her lips for him. His tongue slipped inside rubbing and caressing the wet places in her mouth as her arms rose up to twine around his neck. His own hand moved up to press against her back molding her body to his while his other dove into her dark blue hair as he change the angle of the kiss.

"Naruto." She sighed when they broke apart for air. The sight of her was almost too much to handle. Her blush tinged cheeks, her kiss reddened lips and the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

"Hinata." He replied leaning down to kiss her cheek and then below her ear. She shivered in response and he smiled against her skin before making his way down kissing and sucking at the column of her throat. Naruto was not experienced at all when it came to women. In fact the first person he'd ever kissed was a guy, his best friend to be exact and that moment was one of the most humiliating experiences of his life. He'd been kissed by a woman before Hinata but she'd just been trying to suck out his chakra and that was even worse than kissing the stupid Uchiha, not that he'd ever tell him that for both of their sakes. Kissing Hinata was a totally different experience. He was fairly certain based on what he'd overheard from other men and his travels with Pervy Sage that the woman in his arms was one of the most sensitive in this world. Every touch made her blush, every kiss made her sigh, and the way she gasped and clutched at him when he gently nipped at the nape of her neck with his teeth made him feel like he was on cloud nine.

He guided them both to the bed and sat down pulling her into his lap as he peppered kisses along her collar bone and slipped his hand under her shirt savoring the feel of her skin in his hands.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed her eyes widening, her cheeks blazing as his thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts over her bra.

"I know." He assured her softly. "I won't go that far." He raised his head and pressed his lips against hers once more pulling her down on top of him as he laid down on the bed.

"Naruto." She whimpered. "Are you sure…?"

"I promised you that I'd hold back until our wedding day didn't I?" he reminded her. "Just relax and trust me."

"I trust you." She replied softly.

He nodded and pressed his lips to hers again tangling his tongue with hers as his hands dove into her silky hair and then slowly moved down over her shoulders and back rememorizing the curves of her body. His hands brushed over her back side making her flinch before rising again and coming to rest on her hips. Gently he rolled them to the side and he trailed his hand along the curve of her waist before they broke apart and she rested her forehead against his breathing rapidly.

"Naruto." She whispered. "I don't think I can take anymore." She admitted.

Understanding her real meaning he nodded and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Then we'll stop for now."

"Thank you." She said softly. "I know that this is hard for you. It is for me too, but…"

He shook his head and lifted his hand to brush her hair out of her face. "It's alright. You don't have to apologize. I'd wait a lifetime for you."

Her smile was dazzling as she laid her hand on his cheek. "I love you Naruto."

"I love you too." He replied with an easy smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Neji would haunt me forever if I tried anything too crazy."

She nodded and then her face fell slightly. "Neji…" she sat up and glanced out the window. "Poor TenTen."

Naruto sat up and glanced out across Suna. "Yeah. If I remember right, the last time TenTen and Lee were in Suna, it was when they came to help save Gaara. It must be tough being here without him."

Hinata shook her head. "It's not just that." She said glancing out in the direction of the restaurant they'd eaten at. "That mission was the one that started everything." She said as a tear slid down her cheek.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked putting his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"You probably didn't know." She said softly. "There aren't many who did even within our house."

"Know what?" Naruto replied.

"Neji loved TenTen." She replied softly.

Naruto's eyes widened. "No way!" he gasped. "And TenTen…"

"She loved him too." She replied. "They confessed to each other here in Suna after that mission."

The Uazmaki's eyes widened and then he bowed his head his hands clenching. "Damn it." He hissed. "I can't even imagine what TenTen has been going through. Damn!"

"Naruto." Hinata said turning towards him. "She doesn't blame you or I for what happened you know."

"I know that." He replied gritting his teeth. "I just… this is why we need peace in this world. So what happened to TenTen and Neji doesn't happen to anyone else."

The blue haired girl nodded and leaned against him. "That's one more goal for when you become Hokage then isn't it?"

"Damn right it is." He replied wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He squeezed her gently. "So from what Onchou told me, the guys we'll probably end up fighting tomorrow are tough."

She nodded. "It sounded like it."

"So don't leave my side, ok?" he replied. "I'm not nearly as strong as TenTen. I'd lose my mind if I lost you."

Hinata smiled. "Of course. I'll always be by your side Naruto." She said kissing him gently. "Forever."

3 T 3

Shikamaru sighed as he laced his hands behind his head listening to Chouji snoring loudly beside him. Even after being the guy's teammate for years, it was still the biggest drag to sleep in the same room as him. His snoring nearly rattled the freaking windows! There were two other rooms in the guest house as well but they were already occupied. Ino had one and Onchou and Ryuu had the other so he was stuck. After a few moments he sat up rubbing his head and stepped out of the room and padded down towards the bathroom. He couldn't sleep, his thoughts kept drifting towards the blonde sand shinobi sleeping in the house next door. She'd been sending him messages from the moment that he entered Suna and he'd read them loud and clear. The fan wielder wanted him, badly. The thought made him smirk, she was probably the fiercest kunouchi in the shinobi world. She was quick, efficient, and deadly and he couldn't deny that it thrilled him, turned him on even. Being with a woman like that would be a challenge however he was fairly certain he could handle it, handle her. In fact he was sure of it. He could just imagine what it would be like with her. A rough and wild ride with both of them fighting for dominance. Being with her wouldn't be a drag at all.

He was surprised when he bumped into a body in the dim hallway.

"Sorry." Onchou said regaining her balance. "I wasn't paying attention."

"No. It's my fault too." He admitted a little embarrassed that he hadn't sensed her proximity.

"Having trouble sleeping?" she asked.

"I guess so." He admitted. "You too?"

She nodded. "I suppose the fact that I might run into _him_ again is more frightening than I thought." She admitted.

He nodded and then smiled at her. "I understand where you're coming from but try not to worry too much. You'll have the best ninja from both The Leaf and The Sand by your side. We won't let anything happen to you."

A little smile touched her lips. "Thanks Shikamaru." She said softly as she passed by him. "Oh, by the way. That door," she said motioning to a slightly wider door across the hall. "It leads to the Kazekage's kitchen. If you want something like warm milk or tea, you can make it in there. It might help."

He blinked in surprise and then nodded glancing at the door. When Kankuro had explained the layout of the house, he'd told him that the door just led to a storage room. "Thanks. I think I'll do that. Try to get some sleep."

She nodded and then padded back to the room she shared with Ryuu and closed the door behind her.

Shikamaru quickly crossed the hall, opened the door and found himself in a large kitchen. He closed it gently behind himself and walked over to the cupboard glancing at their tea selection. He wanted something that would knock him out so that he could get some decent sleep. It had to be strong enough to override the thoughts in his head that were imagining what the blonde sand shinobi sleeping in the house he was in wore to bed and what her hair looked like down. How it would feel between his fingers, what her voice would sound like when she moaned his name.

"Shikamaru?" a voice came.

He nearly jumped at the sound and turned to see the woman from his fantasy studying him from across the room. Her hair was undone from its normal four tailed style and hung down to her shoulders. She was dressed in what looked like red satin robe and she tilted her head slightly. She looked so much softer, more feminine but the smirk on her lips and set of hips reminded him that she was just as fierce as ever.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked.

He closed the cupboards and shrugged. "I was looking for something to help me sleep." He replied. "Onchou told me about the door, was she not supposed to?"

Temari cocked an eyebrow. "I don't think so. Did Kankuro tell you it was the door to a storage room or something?" Shikamrau nodded and she laughed. "That idiot brother of mine. To think he's _that_ worried about me. It's not like I can't take care of myself."

The dark haired shinobi smirked at that. "You can definitely take care of yourself, better than any other woman I know."

"I don't know." Temari replied walking forward with her finger tapping her lip. "Sakura could probably give me a run for my money. Those fists of hers are terrifying."

He chuckled. "You might be right about that. I'm amazed Naruto is still living with all of the sucker punches he's received over the years."

She smiled and moved closer to him her eyes glinting with something dangerous. "So, were you thinking you might run into me when you came here?" she asked.

He smirked. "I knew there was a high probability that I would." He replied as she stopped right in front of him. Then without much warning, her lips were on his and the sensation was electrifying. His arms immediately wrapped around her waist crushing her to him. He'd thought of this moment more often then he'd dared admit. She was just as aggressive as he'd anticipated she'd be, tugging at his shirt and quickly pulling at the ties that kept his hair in place letting it fall down to brush just below his chin. She tore her lips away from his and without another word dragged him down the hall. She pushed open the door of the room at the end and then slammed it shut and locked it before her lips found his again.

The shadow shinobi wasted no time as he guided her over to the bed and untied the robe letting it slither to the floor before he pressed her down into the mattress. He noted that she wore only a pair of red panties underneath and smirked as he kissed his way down her neck. "Were you planning on sneaking into the guest house and attacking me in my sleep?" he asked.

She chuckled in response. "Don't flatter yourself. I always sleep like this."

He smirked in response and moved down to her breasts wasting no time as he sucked her nipple into his mouth teasing the nub with just a slight nip of his teeth. She moaned in response and her fingers clutched at his hair. "Shikamaru!" she hissed. His name falling from her lips thrilled him all the more and he wasn't surprised in the slightest when she pushed him off of her and pulled his shirt over his head tossing it to the floor before she pressed him back against the mattress her hands and lips touching and tasting him all over. She was greedy, demanding, rough, and he loved it. Her hands quickly stripped him of his pants leaving him in only his boxers and he decided to take back control catching her and pushing her face forward onto the bed and kissing over her shoulders and down the curve of her back. His mouth stopped just above her panty line and he slid them down slowly.

"Temari." He breathed kissing the back of her neck. "What do you want?"

"Damn you!" she hissed flipping him over onto his back. "You know exactly what I want." She said pulling away the last of the fabric separating them.

He smirked in response and his lips took hers again as she spread her legs for him. Within moments he was inside of her and the two crashed together with all of the pent up passion that had been building between them since the chinin exams. He'd admired her then as they battled even as he'd done his best to defeat her. She was fierce, beautiful, and cunning. A gorgeous, desert wildcat that no one could tame. As they writhed together, she gave no quarter dragging her nails across his back, her hips meeting his thrust for thrust. His hands were in her hair, his lips and teeth nipping at every part of her he could. When she finally came, his name tumbled from her lips as she dug her nails into his back and he finished soon after groaning her name against her neck.

He collapsed against her breathing hard and then with some effort rolled to the side resting his arm across his forehead. "Temari." He said softly.

"What is it?" she replied.

"When this mission is over, will you come to Konoha with me?" he asked.

She rolled towards him and lifted a brow. "Why would I do that?" she asked.

He sighed and rolled towards her. "Do I really have to spell it out for you?" he asked. "I want you by my side, always."

Her eyes widened and then, for the first time since meeting her, they softened. "Do you know what you're getting yourself into shadow boy?" she asked.

"Of course I do. I never make a move without calculating all of the risks and possible outcomes first." He said stroking his finger over the curve of her hip. "The worst case scenario for me is probably scars on my back from your claws you wildcat." He said with a smirk.

She snickered in response and then lifted herself up to hover over him. "Fine. If that's what you want. I wasn't planning on leaving after this year's chunin exams anyway."

He smiled and raised his head claiming her lips and felt another wave of desire move through him. She seemed to feel it too as she dragged her nails up his ribcage.

"Are you ready for round two with this wildcat?" she purred against his neck.

Shikamaru smirked in response accepting her challenge head on. "Always."

~~ % ~~

TenTen lay in bed her eyes slowly becoming weighted by the exhaustion from the day's events. Lee of course had pushed everyone to go at a breakneck pace on the way to Suna and with the mission briefing, girl time, and a loud dinner followed by time spent at a bar with a bunch of single guys lamenting about the girls that got away she was done with the day. Her hand slipped into her sleep shirt and pulled out the locket she'd never shown anyone. It was silver with a lavender sapphire in the middle of the face. She opened it quietly not wanting to disturb Hinata who was sleeping in the bed next to her and gazed at the face of the man she loved. A man who was no longer in this world. Her fingertip traced over his features, the lavender eyes that matched the stone in the locket face, the long dark hair and porcelain skin. He was smiling in the photo, the gentle smile he'd saved just for her.

"Neji." She murmured as she closed the locket and curled into a ball clutching the locket in her hands as tears slipped down her face. "It hurts." She whimpered. "It hurts so much being back in this place without you."

Her eyes closed and when they opened again, she was standing in the middle of a grassy field. She glanced around and noticed a small bunch of sunflowers growing nearby and walked to them kneeling down beside the cheery looking flowers. She touched the yellow petals with her finger tips and smiled in spite of the tears that flowed down her cheeks.

"This is odd. I don't ever recall you crying over sunflowers before." A smooth, precise voice said from behind her.

Her eyes widened and she quickly rose and turned a little sound of surprise bubbling out of her throat as she gazed at the man standing before her. He was wearing a grey kimono and staring at her as the wind ruffled his hair whipping across the forehead that no longer bore a curse mark as it had in life.

"Neji?" She breathed taking a step forward her hand hesitantly outstretched towards him. When his lips turned up into a smile a sob bubbled up from her lips and she sprinted to him throwing herself against his chest. "Neji!" she sobbed hugging him as tightly as she could.

"TenTen, you don't have to hold me so tightly." He reprimanded her lifting a hand to touch the top of her head.

"I do!" she yelled as she stepped away from him and then punched him as hard as she could across the face knocking him back several feet. "You big jerk!"

He blinked in surprise and slowly stood up rubbing his cheek. "Ok. I guess I deserved that." He admitted.

"Damn right you deserved it!" she screamed. "How dare you!? You left me all alone with that jumpsuit wearing idiot! Do you had any idea how much more annoying he is now that he's lost his rival!? He just won't shut up!" her hands balled into fists as she raged even as tears streamed down her face. "Then a bunch of creeps came from the moon came after Hinata and nearly destroyed the village again and…" she shook and gritted her teeth staring at the ground frustrated at how hysterical she was. Her eyes widened when long, strong arms wrapped around her.

"Forgive me." Neji said softly. "I never meant to leave you all alone." A sob bubbled up in her chest as she clung to him. Years of loneliness and heartache streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry too." She replied. "I know why you did what you did. I don't blame you or the others for what happened I just…" she shuddered. "It hurts. It hurts so much."

"I know how you feel." He replied surprising her. She lifted her head and saw tears forming in his eyes. "TenTen." He murmured before he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

Her eyes closed as she savored the sensation. It had been far too long since she'd felt it, the firm pressure and the infinite tenderness of it. His hands slowly moved one splaying across her back pulling her more firmly against him while the other slid up to cup the back of her head. He slowly changed the angel of the kiss deepening it and she sighed against his lips as her own hand tangled in his hair and cupped his cheek. They finally broke apart breathless and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"I love you TenTen." He said softly. "Even here, in this place that has not changed."

"I love you too Neji. So much." She leaned her head against his chest and listened to the beating of his heart.

"Why were you able to come visit me?" she asked as he guided her over to a nearby tree and settled beneath it pulling her into his lap.

"Your soul called out to mine." He replied. "It seemed to be in immense pain and I just couldn't sit by and listen." He replied stroking his hand over her shoulders. "What happened?"

TenTen sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm in Suna." She replied. "It's the first time I've been back since…"

"I understand." He replied turning to press a kiss to her forehead. "I'm sure it's difficult for you. It was the village where I first learned that your feelings for me were the same as what I felt for you."

She smiled and nodded. "It was such a pain to get away from Lee and Guy Sensei to talk alone."

He chuckled. "They were so worried about us too. I can't believe Lee thought we'd been kidnapped."

She laughed and snuggled closer to him. "Yeah, he's still an idiot." She replied. "It also sucks because all of the others girls have their men around."

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Right. You might not know. Hinata and Naruto are together now. I'm pretty sure they're engaged even if it's not official yet." She said.

"He better not try anything." Neji muttered. "I'll haunt him forever."

She laughed. "I'm pretty sure he knows that. You don't have to worry though, he's actually a gentleman in spite of all of that pervy ninjutsu stuff he pulls." She smiled. "Ino and Sai are together so she's content."

Neji chuckled. "So she found a man that returns her feelings?"

TenTen smiled. "I guess so. Sai is a good guy so I think it'll work out." She sighed. "Sasuke came back and finally reciprocated Sakura's feelings. It seems Suna brought them together too."

The lavender eyed boy nodded. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Yeah." She replied before she twined her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. He responded to her touch but his movements told her that their time was sort as he slid his hands under her shirt and kissed her with the recklessness he'd only shown her in the last months of their relationship before his untimely death. They'd intended to marry once the war was over, but fate had been cruel to them and they never got the chance.

"TenTen." He groaned as he moved laying her down in the grass kissing her with wild abandon. "I wish we could stay like this forever."

"I know." She replied arching into his touch as his hands slipped under her shirt stroking her back and hips. "I want that too."

Wetness on her face startled her and she opened her eyes and gazed into her dead lover's eyes. The pain she saw in them confirmed what she already suspected. "I have to go." He said softly even as his fisted his hands in her hair. "TenTen I…"

"It's ok." She said softly stroking his face. "I'll be alright."

"Of course you will." He said with a smile. "You were always much stronger than I was." She nodded as he laid his forehead on hers. "I love you TenTen. I will be waiting for you."

"I love you too." She replied softly. "I'll come visit you when I get back to Konoha." She promised.

He nodded and then leaned down and pressed his lips against hers before the world and everything in it faded. Her eyes opened slowly and she glanced at the clock. It was nearly five am and time for her to get ready for the day. She noted the sensation of something metallic in her hands and glanced down at the locket still clasped in her hands a little smile coming to her lips.

"Neji. Thank you." She said softly as a tear slid from her eye. "I now have the courage to get up and face another day."

Onchou sat on the roof of the Kazekage's residence as early morning light touched the sky with her eyes closed as she listened to one of the soul songs she'd saved playing from the box her grandmother had given her. She hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before. For starters, Temari and Shikamaru had finally connected in the most intimate way possible which was beautiful and wonderful. Unfortunately, they'd been rather loud about it and even with her expert skill she hadn't been able to tune out the sound of their lovemaking. She'd quickly put a sleeping spell on Ryuu assuring that he wouldn't wake up and be disturbed by the lack of her presence or the sounds coming from the other house and then escaped the place taking a blanket and her soul song box and camped out on the roof of the Kazekage's building hoping to avoid the noise for a little while.

She was terrified of what the day would bring. For the first time in her life, she was running towards the man who had done terrible, unforgiveable things to her. Though she wouldn't be alone, it frightened her to think about seeing him again. There were many who called her strong and powerful but in reality, she was weak and miserable. Her power didn't define her and had been nothing but a burden. Oh how she wished that she could be like the Sakura with unshakable faith in her friends and confidence in her own abilities. Someone who not only had the power to protect those closest to her but was protect by them even when she didn't want it.

A sigh escaped her lips as she curled her legs closer to her chest. It was impossible. Her entire life she'd been the protector. Even on this mission she was going as a form of protection. To forewarn her comrades of any danger and guide them inside enemy territory. She didn't mind really. She'd grow to care for Sakura, Sasuke, Sai, Naruto, Kankuro, Temari and Gaara during her time in Suna. Her first impressions of the other leaf ninja had been positive as well. She was happy to protect them. There was just a part of her that wished there was someone to protect her as well. She took out another soul song and pressed it into the hole in the box that allowed it to play and blew across the hole to start the music. She decided to sing along with the song in common tongue instead of the ancient language only members of her house knew.

"Turn your face towards the sun. Let the shadows fall behind you. Say a prayer just carry on. And the shadows will never find you."

"I've never heard that song before." A low deliberate voice said from behind her.

She jumped at the sound and was surprised to see Gaara standing in front of her studying her with those pale blue-green eyes that could almost see through her. "I'm sorry." She said getting to her feet. "Am I not supposed to be here?"

He shrugged crossing his arms across his chest. "I don't particularly mind that you're here but it probably isn't the best idea for you to be alone given the circumstances."

The violet haired girl blinked and then nodded. "Right. I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry."

The Kazekage shook his head. "Don't be." He noticed the blanket that had slipped from her shoulder when she jumped and frowned. "How long have you been up here?" he asked.

"I don't really know." She admitted. "I came here when it became a little too loud inside the house. I didn't pay attention to the time at all."

"Loud?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Temari and Shikimaru connected last night." She said softly. "I'm pretty good at moderating what I'm able to hear but they were so enthusiastic I couldn't block them out." She said blushing. "I just came here to get some quiet."

"I see." He said softly. "That's not the only reason though, is it?"

The amethyst eyed teen sighed. "No." she admitted.

"Are you afraid?" he asked extending a hand to her so that she could stand.

"Afraid of what?" she asked dusting the dirt from the knit pants and tee shirt she'd worn to sleep in.

"Of the mission we're about to go on." He clarified.

"Oh that." She replied looking down at the ground as he released her hand. "I don't think I'm afraid of the mission exactly…" her shoulders began to shake in spite of her attempts to keep her fear from showing. She wasn't afraid of the mission. Mass destruction was actually something she excelled at. It was the man Takuma himself that frightened her.

"Are you afraid of what Takuma will do to you if he finds you?" Gaara asked.

Her amethyst eyes rose to meet his and then she looked away when she realized he could see through her again. "It's not a big deal. I mean everyone has someone who scares them right?" Her eyes widened in surprise when he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's ok to be afraid." He said as he held her. "You don't have to be strong all of the time."

Her body trembled as tears streamed down her face. Why did he have this effect on her? How was it that his touch alone made her feel like it was ok to let go and be weak?

"I will protect you Onchou. I promise." His voice rang with authority and she knew from it and his song that he spoke the truth. It made her heart sore and she instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist in response.

"Thank you Gaara." She replied. "That means more to me than you know."

He nodded and then released her. "Come. Let's go inside." He said picking up the blanket from where it had fallen tossing it over his arm and then handing the wooden box to her. "There's still a little over an hour before we have to leave. Try to get some rest."

She nodded and the pair of them leapt fromt he roof and landed lightly on the ground below. With quick steps she followed him inside his house and wondered just for a moment what it would feel like if it was her home as well. If she lived with him and his family as part of his. The thought made her smile as she followed the Kazekage into the kitchen and was surprised to see Kankuro there. His head was bowed and a cup of coffee steamed in his hands. He looked exhausted and she could feel it in his song as well.

"Are you ok?" she asked as she moved to sit down at the table across from him.

He glanced up at her and shook his head. "Last night, they wouldn't stop." He muttered.

She chuckled. "You too huh?"

He nodded. "I'm glad I wasn't the only one." He muttered.

The violet haired girl smiled. "We'll find a way to make them pay for it later." She assured him with a wink.

The puppet master smirked in response. "I like the way you think." He replied. "You would totally fit in our family."

Her heart sored at his words for a reason she didn't quite understand and blush colored her cheeks. "Thanks." She relied simply.

Behind her he Kazekage colored as well as he wondered what it would be like to have her by his side as his family for the rest of his life.

P.S. Wow, this chapter turned out to be way more emotionally packed than I anticipated. I hope you all enjoyed. The next chapters are the start of the mission to take down Takuma and his organization so they're going to be a lot more action packed but I'll still make sure there are sweet moments. Thanks for your support of this story!


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Notes: Thanks for all of the love and support you've given me! This story is doing much better than anticipated and I'm thrilled! The next chapters are going to focus on the actual mission to investigate and stop Takuma and his plans so there's going to be a lot of information and more action ahead. There's also going to be a little less heat (boo I know :'( ) but I will try to compensate with all of those sweet battle moments where our favorite couples protect each other and such. Also, like I said before, this mission revolves around Takuma and in particular his connection to Onchou so it might seem a little OC centric but I'll try to balance it out. I'm trying to keep in spirit with the original Naruto series vibe which means focusing on the mission and their execution of it. Anyway… I'm babbling so let's just get on with the story.

Onchou walked between Ryuu and Gaara through the sleepy streets of Suna towards the opening of the canyon that connected it to the rest of the desert. She was dressed a little differently for the mission with black capri length leggings, a royal blue three quarter sleeve top with a black corset style vest over top. She'd pulled half of her violet hair back to keep it out of her face and her sword was strapped to her back.

"Why do I have to stay behind?" Ryuu demanded a little pout on his lips.

"Where we're going is a dangerous place." Onchou replied. "Takuma will be there as well."

"Exactly!" the child exclaimed. "I want to have a go at him too!"

The violet eyed girl shook her head. "I understand but it's just too risky. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you when we get back."

The ruby eyed boy scrunched his nose clearly dissatisfied with her answer but knowing that nothing he said would change her mind. "Fine." He muttered.

She smiled and was about to speak again when a loud voice rang out through the streets. "Aria! Is that you Aria!?" a voice called out.

Onchou's eyes widened as she turned in the direction of the voice. She found it belonged to a middle aged man with chestnut brown hair and striking amethyst eyes like her own. He was tall with an athletic build and light skin wearing navy blue pants, a black shirt, and a sandy brown vest. His eyes widened in response as he looked at her and then his face fell. "I'm sorry." He said looking down. "You look like someone I know."

The violet haired girl's hands trembled as she looked at the man. She barely noticed when Gaara came up to stand beside her as the rest of the mission team watched them curiously.

"Aria." She said softly. The man nodded and her hand balled into a fist. "Aria was my mother's name."

His eyes widened and his body began to shake. "Is your mother from Heiwa?" he asked.

The girl stiffly nodded and the man's face lifted. "What is your name?" she asked.

"I'm Tamiki Buki." He replied. Onchou's heart dropped and raced simultaneously. She knew that name, she could never forget it as long as she lived. "Tell me, how is Aria?" he asked with bright eyes, the same eyes she had.

She took a deep breath. "She's dead." She replied stiffly.

The man's eyes filled with tears as he shook. "Dead?" he repeated.

"Yes. She was murdered in cold blood almost seven years ago." The violet haired girl said before launching forward and slamming her fist into the man's face knocking him back onto the ground.

"Onchou!" Gaara exclaimed reaching out to restrain her.

"Let go!" she snapped trying to wrestle out of his grip as she glared at the man with tears brimming in her eyes. "I was there! In her final moments she screamed his name and begged him to save us!" she cried. Her gaze turned on the Kazekage. "You knew! You knew he was here! Why didn't you tell me!?" she demanded her gaze piercing his pale eyes.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to wait until all of this was over to introduce you." He replied.

"Hey! What's going on?" Naruto called out jogging up to them along with the rest of team seven and Hinata.

"Nothing." Onchou replied pulling out of the sand wielder's grip. "Nothing at all." She took Ryuu by the hand and walked with him to the entrance where the team of sand shinobi including the two women she'd saved from Dolls was waiting for her.

"We'll take good care of him." The blond ninja assured her.

"Yeah. We owe you our lives. We'll do everything in our power to keep him safe." The brunette added.

"Thank you very much." Onchou said trying to shake off her shock. "He's very precious to me."

"Onchou, are you going to be ok?" Ryuu asked. "Who was that guy?"

"That man is my father." She replied simply as she knelt down and pulled the silver haired child into her arms hugging him tightly. "Stay safe and behave." She said as he hugged her back just as tightly.

"I will." He assured her. "Don't you dare die on me." He whispered.

"I won't." she promised. "I promised to protect you forever. That's little hard to do when you're dead."

"I love you Onchou." The ruby eyed child murmured.

"I love you too." She replied moving back to press a kiss to his forehead.

*#*

Gaara sighed as he watched Onchou walk away hand in hand with Ryuu towards the team he'd assigned to look after the child while they were gone. The hurt and betrayal he'd seen reflected in her eyes was more painful than he'd anticipated. He really had intended to introduce them earlier but with everything that had been happening, he didn't want to stress her further by throwing her estranged father into the mix.

"What in the heck is going on, Gaara?" Naruto demanded.

"Yeah. Onchou looks upset." Sakura said glancing at the violet haired girl.

Tamiki got to his feet and rubbed his jaw as his gaze became fixed on the violet haired girl hugging a silver haired child near the canyon passage.

"Lord Kazekage. Who is that girl?" he asked.

"Her name is Onchou." Gaara replied. "As far as we know, she's the last survivor from Heiwa. She's sixteen years old and based on her past history, I'm fairly certain that she is your daughter." Tamiki's eyes widened as he stared at her.

"My… My daughter." He murmured.

The Kazekage nodded. "She said that her mother was the daughter of the village headman and was saved by a shinobi from our village." He explained. "Her mother fell in love with her savior and they spent a night together before he left leaving a sword behind as proof of his promise to return for her. It's the sword strapped to her back now. Do you recognize it?" he asked.

The swordsman moved a little closer waiting for the girl to stand again. She flipped her hair briefly revealing the sheathed weapon. "I know that sword." Tamiki murmured his body trembling. "I forged it myself." His hands covered his face. "It's true then. Aria is dead and that girl, Onchou was it?" The Kazekage nodded. "She is my daughter."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed.

Tamiki moved his hands and watched her as tears slid down his cheeks. "Can I talk to her please?" he asked.

"I don't think that's the best idea given the circumstances." Saskue said. "We need to get going."

Gaara nodded. "My thoughts exactly." He said. "Now is not a good time. She's leaving with us on a mission." He replied.

"Can I come with you?" the middle aged man asked. "Please."

The Kazekage shook his head. "Our enemy is incredibly strong. In addition I fear your presence would only trouble Onchou. The man we're pursuing held her captive for years. This mission is going to be hard enough on her as it is."

Tamiki's eyes reflected pain and regret as he watched Onchou walk up to Temari who reached out to touch the girl on her shoulder.

"Please Lord Kazkage." The older man said dropping to his knees. "I'm begging you. I want to make things right with her. I need to find out what happened to Aria. I won't be a burden I promise. If she truly is going to face the man that held her captive for years, the least I can do as a father is try to protect her."

Gaara's eyes widened as he remember his own father expressing regret at how he'd treated him as a child and his mother's love and protection. A sigh of defeat left his lips. "We're leaving now. Are you ready for such a journey?" Tamiki nodded. "Fine." He said walking towards the rest of the party. "Just keep your distance from her for now." He glanced at the rest of the ninja. "Are you ready to go?"

They nodded in unison. "Just waiting for your command little brother." Temari said with an easy smile.

"Very well." He replied. "Let's head out."

"Raccoon eyes!" Ryuu yelled. When the sand wielder glanced at him his eyes narrowed. "You better take care of Onchou! If she dies, I'll kill you!"

"Ryuu!" Onchou scolded but Gaara held up a hand to stop her.

"If she dies, my life is yours." He replied. "I promise that I will protect her." The ruby eyed child nodded satisfied with his response and Gaara turned towards the stone corridor. "Let's go." He said taking off down the corridor. His team consisting of Temari, Kankuro, Onchou and Tamiki followed and the three teams from Kohona lead by the legendary team seven took off across the desert towards the abandoned village of Heiwa intent on stopping a mad man's plot to take over the world.

$0$

The group headed across the desert and towards the village of Heiwa that was two days away. Just before evening fell, they stopped and prepared to sleep in tents. A bonfire was lit and the group began to settle down for the night.

Sakura sat down next to Sasuke and leaned her head on his shoulder as the stars began to wink to life in the sky. He gently laid his own on hers before straightening again.

"How are you doing?" he asked. "Are you staying hydrated?"

The pink haired girl snickered. "Who do you think you're talking to?" she asked. "I'm one of the greatest medical ninjas in the world. Of course I am. How about yourself?" He nodded and she sighed and snuggled closer to him. She watched as Onchou walked away from Tamiki for at least the third time that night and walked over to sit by herself.

"She seems to be having a rough time." Sasuke noted watching the same scene.

"Yeah." Sakura agreed. "I can't even imagine what she must be feeling right now."

The Uchiha nodded and slipped an arm around her shoulder. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" he asked.

The pink haired medic nodded. "I think so. There's only so much you can prepare for."

The raven haired man nodded and then sighed. "We should probably get ready to go to bed." He said as he noticed Sai and Ino saying their goodnights in front of the girl's tent.

"Yeah." She replied with a reluctant sigh. Her eyes widened and then she giggled.

"What?" The Uchiha questioned.

"Well, I just realized that this is the first night we'll be sleeping in different places since you returned." She said her cheeks coloring. "It's strange to think that we'll be sleeping apart." She admitted.

He blinked in surprise. "That's true. I guess I never really thought about it before now."

They rose and walked to the girl's tent and Sakura slipped her arms around him hugging him tightly, even more so than usual.

"Is something wrong?" he asked wrapping his own arms around her.

She pressed her face to his chest. "I don't know." She admitted. "I just have this awful feeling in my chest. The thought of being separated from you just…" it was fear she was feeling. It hit her like one of her own sucker punches. She was terrified that she'd wake up in the morning and he'd be gone. His fingers slipped under her chin and tipped her face up towards his forcing her to meet his gaze. Her eyes we captured by his mismatched gaze and he frowned a little and leaned down kissing her hard.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said cupping her face in his hands. "I promise you."

She nodded still unsure but there was nothing that could be done. All she could do was wait until morning and have faith that he'd still be there.

"Good night Sakura." He said tapping her in the middle of her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning. I promise."

"Ok. Goodnight Sasuke." She said softly. "I love you. I'll see you in the morning."

He smiled down at her and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before he released her and walked to the boy's tent.

Naruto sighed as he listened to the Kazekage next to him toss and turn. "Look, if you're that worried about her just get up and make sure she's alright." He whispered.

The Kazekage sighed. "She doesn't want to speak with me."

The blonde shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Of course she's pissed off at you for not telling her about her dad sooner but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to talk to you. She probably wants to talk to you more than ever but she's too confused and hurt to say it." The red head sighed and sat up quickly pulling on his sandals and slipped out of the tent without another word. "That guy, I swear…" he muttered. He noticed another man moving out of the tent and recognized it as Tamiki. With a heavy sigh he slipped out of the tent and followed him. The man stopped just outside of camp and Naruto came up beside him following his gaze to see what he was looking at. He pulled the man back a few feet. "Shh! Let's leave them alone for now." He said pulling the man down to sit beside him.

Onchou sat with her legs pulled tightly to her chest her head resting on her knees as she remembered the night her mother died. The older woman was on her knees pleading for her life when she noticed her in the doorway.

"Onchou! Run!" she cried.

"Ah, so she's awake. Too bad, if you'd been a little quieter she never would've had to witness this." Takuma said grabbing her mother by the throat. "Well, no matter. It's her fault I'm doing this anyway." He said looking at the young girl.

"No! Please don't!" Her mother screamed tears sliding down her dark skin as her golden eyes widened with fear. "Tamiki! Please save us!" she screamed.

"Tamiki? The shinobi from The Village Hidden in the Sand. I should've known. All well. He won't come to your rescue this time." He said pulling out a kunai. "Good bye my beautiful Aria. Don't worry, I'll take good care of your daughter."

Onchou's own eyes widened as she realized his intentions and ran forward her hand outstretched. "Mother! No!" she screamed even as he slid the knife across her throat. She'd stopped midstride when her mother's warm blood splattered across her face and dropped to her knees.

"Onchou, Tamiki, forgive me." Her mother rasped. "Onchou, look at me."

She'd obeyed and her mother smile even as her blood seeped onto the floor. "I was able to see his eyes one more time. Your father's eyes." She whispered before her own eyes clouded and her soul song left her body.

"Onchou." The young woman jumped her hand going instinctively for a kunai but stopped when she recognized the person standing beside her.

"Oh, Lord Kazekage." She said softly. "I didn't realize it was you. Please excuse my impolite behavior."

"You aren't being impolite at all." He replied. "In fact it's quite the opposite which means you're upset."

She blinked in surprise at his perceptiveness and then laid her head on her knees. "I apologize. I'm just a bit overwhelmed with everything. You can go back if you want. I won't run away or anything." She assured him.

"I'd actually like to stay if it's all the same to you." He said sitting on the ground next to her. When she didn't protest he moved a little closer. "I didn't tell you because I was trying to avoid this exact situation." he said.

The violet haired girl nodded. "I know that. I'm sorry it's just… mother was right. I do have his eyes." She said touching the corner of one.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

The amethyst eyed girl nodded. "It was my eyes that literally drove my mother insane." She said softly.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked.

The dark skinned girl sighed. "I told you before that my mother ran away from home after learning that she was pregnant and gave birth to me alone right?" he nodded. "Well, my grandparents tracked her down less than an hour after she gave birth to me. She was all alone in The Land of Rivers covered in blood and dirt. My grandmother figured out what had happened and asked where the baby was." She tightened her grip on her legs. "My mother told her that it had his eyes. Its father's eyes and that she'd buried her heart and his eyes in the ground so they wouldn't torment her anymore."

The red head's eyes widened. "I heard you mention it but still…"

Onchou chuckled a little as she raked a hand through her hair. "It's pathetic isn't it?" she said her voice shaking. "My own mother didn't want me, my father was never around, and I was nothing but a burden to my grandparents. I'm only useful as a weapon anyway." she pressed her face to her knees. "Sometimes I wish that my grandmother had never unburied me. Maybe then they'd all still be alive." She said softly.

She was shocked when she felt arms wrap around her. "Please don't say things like that." He said softly. "I understand how you feel. I truly do. But you're existence, your life has infinite value. Look at Ryuu and all of your friends. You matter to them. Even your father, he begged me to come because he wants to make things right. He probably didn't even know you existed until today."

Her heart pounded in her chest, did he really know how she felt? How could he? She shook in his arms. "I… I…" she stammered.

"You don't have to say anything." He assured her. "I know you don't believe me so I'll keep telling you until you do. You are important, your life has meaning. I promise you."

Unable to contain herself anymore, she turned in his arms and wrapped her own around him sobbing into his chest as she let years of pain stream down her cheeks. It was so warm and so comforting to be in someone's arms. To be protected and cared for. It felt so much different from when Ryuu hugged her. No one's embrace had made her feel so safe and she bathed in its warmth, his warmth. He said nothing and just held her until she fell asleep with tears still streaming down her cheeks completely exhausted in every way. With infinite gentleness, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the girl's tent and lightly tapped on the door. Shuffling followed and Sakura appeared rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Gaara?" she murmured. Her eyes widened when she saw the limp body in his arms. "Onchou! Is she alright?" she exclaimed.

He nodded. "She just fell asleep." He replied. "Would it be alright if I laid her down?"

"Sure." The pink haired medic replied stepping away from the entrance so he could duck inside. "She's sleeping on the end." She said motioning to the two empty sleeping spots.

He laid her down gently and pulled blankets over her. He brushed her hair away from her face and let his fingers linger for a moment on her cheek before he rose and walked back to the tent entrance.

"Sorry for the intrusion." He said softly.

"It's fine." Sakura assured him walking with him back to the entrance. "Lord Gaara, I was wondering, how do you feel about Onchou?" She asked.

He stopped for a moment and then took a deep breath. "I admire her strength, courage, and beauty." He glanced back at her sleeping form. "I also want to protect her more than anyone else even though she won't let me."

The pink haired medic eyes widened. "Lord Gaara, it sounds like you love her." She said softly.

His eyes widened and then softened slightly. "Love her?" he repeated. "You might be right about that." He said before he slipped out into the night.

Naruto sat beside Tamiki watching as Gaara and Onchou talked a few yards away. He glanced at the older man who stared at the violet haired girl. After a few moments, he spoke. "How well do you know her?" he asked.

The Uzamaki shrugged. "I'm her friend but we haven't known each other for very long. That kid Ryuu has known her the longest but he _is_ just a kid."

"Will you tell me about her?" he asked.

Naruto sighed. "We found her because she'd been sighted around with Ryuu taming beasts and healing the villagers from the places they attacked. We soon discovered that she was on the run from a man named Takuma who killed her family including her mother and kidnapped her. He'd been experimenting on her for years."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Did you say Takuma?" he asked.

The blonde nodded. "Yes, why?"

"I know who he is. He was born in Heiwa as well." The older man said.

Naruto's eyes widened. "No way! What else do you know?"

The amethyst eyed man clenched his hands into fists. "He was obsessed with Aria." He replied. "I met her when we were dispatched to protect the village from a raid led by rouge ninja. We found out that the one behind it was Orocimaru, a friend of Takuma's."

"That damn snake." Naruto hissed. "He's always screwing things up everywhere he goes. Why did he attack the village?"

"He wanted the ears that Aria and her clan possessed." He replied. "Takuma snuck them in because he'd made a deal with Orochimaru. He'd get them in if he'd give Aria to him."

"That sounds like Orochimaru." The blonde replied. "That sick bastard treating other humans like livestock."

Tamiki nodded. "I was the one that stopped them both by protecting the village headman and his family. They nearly got their hands on Aria but I was able to save her." He smiled a little and looked down. "I still remember to this day how she was standing there projecting a barrier to protect herself even as Orocimaru and Takuma worked to break it. She looked so beautiful and strong in spite of how close she was to being defeated. I fell in love with her at once." He sighed. "After we spent the night together. She told me that she was slated to become the next guardian since the previous guardian, was no longer strong enough to do her job. She told me she didn't want the power because she'd had terrible dreams about a strange looking woman taking the Guardian stone and using it to take over the world. I couldn't take her with me right away so I left my sword with her and promised to come back for her." His face fell. "After I returned to the village however, I was immediately sent on a top secret mission spying for The Land of Wind. It took years to finish. When I returned, the teams were being assembled to go assist Heiwa. I went with them desperate to find Aria." He shuddered. "What greeted us nothing short of horrifying. Men, women, and children strewn about dead while the rest were hunted down by beasts under the control of a man wilding the sharringan. I searched for Aria everywhere for three days. I finally found the remnants of her house and blood was smeared all over her room. I couldn't take it and ran away cursing myself for being away when she needed me most." He looked at the violet haired girl that was sobbing in the Kazekage's arms. "I had no idea that Aria was still alive and had a child let alone that it was mine."

Naruto sighed. "Well I guess that makes sense. You didn't mean to abandon her then."

Tamiki nodded. "If I'd known, I would've searched the world over for her. I would have protected both her and her mother."

The blonde nodded. "Well, you didn't know." He said simply. "Now that you do know, just try doing the best you can to make up for lost time."

"How can I?" he asked. "She won't talk to me."

"Well yeah. She's probably completely overwhelmed. During most of her life she's been alone thinking that you never cared about her. Sixteen years of that kind of thinking isn't going to disappear overnight." The young leaf shinobi laced his fingers behind his back. "My parents both died when I was an infant. They were protecting me but I still suffered because they were gone. One day, I was able to see my dad again because of some seriously complicated stuff and I did the same thing to him that she did to you." He chuckled. "I punched him as hard as I could not because I didn't love him or didn't want to see him. I was just overwhelmed. I'd suffered so much all alone because he was gone." He looked over at Tamiki. "You're not like that. You're alive. You can be there for her."

They watched as Gaara pulled the sleeping form of Onchou into his arms and carried her towards camp. Tamiki chuckled. "It seems to me that the Kazekage has that covered."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, Gaara seems to care a lot for her. I mean, we all do but I think what he feels for her is a little different." He turned to Tamiki. "Even so, you're her dad. Just be patient and give her time. She's used to being alone, just prove to her that she's not." He yawned. "I'm going to bed now. You should too old man. Tomorrow is when the fun really begins."

#$#

Sakura sighed as she sat up in bed. The light was pale around her indicating that it was early morning. She turned to the side and noted Onchou lying next to her curled up into a ball. A little smile touched her lips as she watched her. "She sleeps like Sasuke." She murmured. "Maybe it's a side effect of watching the people you care about killed or having to sleep in enemy territory for so long."

"Gaara." The girl murmured in her sleep. "Stay with me."

The pink haired medic smiled. "Gaara, I think she loves you too." She said moving out of the tent just as TenTen began to stir. A shiver went through her as she approached the fire that had been reduced to nothing but coals during the night and tossed kindling on the fire.

"You are up early." A familiar voice said from beside her.

"Lee?" she asked glancing up at him. "Why are you awake?"

"I am always awake at this hour." He replied. "I just finished my first early morning run."

The pink haired medic lifted a brow. "You say that like you run more than once in the morning."

"I do. I run once before breakfast and again after. However I usually skip my after breakfast run while on missions." He said with a cheerful grin.

Sakura chuckled and shook her head. "You're still just as crazy as ever. How are you really?" she asked. "I know that the last time you came here was as Team Guy when we saved Gaara."

The jumpsuit wearing ninja blinked, and then blushed. "Are you concerned about me Sakura?" he asked.

"Of course I am." She replied. "You're my friend Lee."

"Thank you. It means the world to me that you care for me. I am doing ok. Guy Sensei is still just as full of youth as ever." He said with a wide grin. "I still train every day in hopes that I can someday be half the ninja Neji is surly becoming wherever he is."

Sakura smiled and touched him on the shoulder as she saw the tears welling in his eyes. "Lee, you are so strong. It's ok to break down sometimes though."

The dark haired ninja smiled. "I try to be." He said resting his hands on her shoulders as he bowed his head tears streaming down his face.

She nodded and laid her hand on his head. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him cry of course. Not even these kinds of tears, the kind borne from deep pain. None the less it hurt her seeing the confident, lively Lee in such a state. She knew that TenTen was suffering in a way that was unimaginable but she knew that Lee was hurting as well. It was probably in the same way that Sasuke or Naruto would be hurting if one of them hadn't survived their last fight and her heart ached for him.

"Damn that Rabbit Goddess." She hissed under her breath. "If she's ever stupid enough to try coming back to this world I'll destroy her for taking Neji from us."

"Thank you Sakura." Lee said after a few moments. "I feel a little better now. I still have five hundred pushups to do before breakfast. I will take my leave now."

She smiled and nodded. "Ok Lee. You know you can talk to me if you need anything."

He nodded and then walked across the camp to a flat spot where he started his pushup regiment. She smiled a little at the scene and turned her attention back to the fire. As she did, she felt a flare of electric chakra coming from near the boy's tent and turned to see it. To her surprise, Sasuke was standing there his eyes focused on her and she could tell from both the way he was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and the set of his mouth that he wasn't happy. Curious as to why he was acting that way and a little anxious to see him given how worried about him she'd been, she walked towards him.

"Sasuke, is everything alright?" she asked.

He said nothing but grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her around to the back of the tent away from the others.

"Ouch!" she muttered at how tight his grip was. "What's wrong?"

The Uchiha grabbed her pulling her flush against him and pressed his lips against hers greedy and demanding as his fingers dug into her skin and tugged at her hair. Finally he released her both of them breathless.

"Sasuke, tell me what's wrong." She repeated.

"Nothing." He replied.

"Don't lie to me!" she snapped. "How am I supposed to know what you're thinking if you don't tell me?"

"Just…" he raked his fingers through his hair. "Forget it. Let's go join the others."

Her brow furrowed in confusion but she reluctantly followed.

"Sasuke, Sakura." Shikamrau said nodding to them. "Come join the rest of us. We're going over the plan for today."

"Right." Sakura said walking over to where a large map was laid out on a table made from sand.

Onchou picked up a brush and went to work drawing out the layout of the village as best she could.

"This is what I remember." She said as she worked.

"May I help?" Tamiki said walking forward. "I was there more recently than you were."

"Sure." She said handing him the brush.

"Thank you." He said taking the brush from her.

"Wow." The violet haired girl said when he was finished. "A lot more was destroyed than I remember but then again, we managed to escape so I guess I wouldn't know the full extent of the damage." She brushed her fingers over the map and her brow furrowed. "I'm thinking out best bet will probably be to chakra board in from the north."

"I was thinking the same thing." Tamiki replied touching his hand to his chin. "It's the path he'll probably have the least amount of guards along because he doesn't need them there."

"What do you mean chakra board?" Naruto asked.

The violet haired girl blinked. "You've never ridden a chakra board?" she asked in surprise.

Tamiki chuckled. "You were raised there so you probably don't know but chakra boards are something unique to Heiwa. They were actually about the release that technology to the rest of the ninja world before the third ninja war broke out but after that they decided to keep it to themselves."

Onchou shook her head. "Well that's depressing. Chakra boarding is one of the only things I remember about that place that I really liked. Anyway, it's not something that's easily explained either so you'll just have to wait until we get there and see." she touched her chin. "That means our first order of business is going to be breaking into the north guard tower. From there I should be able to get a decent read on the situation."

"Alright. We'll head there then." Gaara said as Shikamaru took the map. "Let's go."

They broke up into groups with Shikamrau, Temari, and Onchou in the lead, and the rest Konoha 12 behind them and Gaara, Naruto, and Tamiki bringing up the rear. They arrived at the north tower within hours and stopped to study it.

"It's shorter than I remember." Onchou said glancing up at it. "Then again, that's not saying much." She glanced at Tamiki. "Do you think it's still active?"

He walked up to it studying the stone structure. "It's hard to say. If I had to guess I'd say no but we won't know until we try to get in."

"What do you mean active?" Kiba asked as Akamaru sniffed at the door to the structure.

"Each of the guard towers is rigged with a series of traps inside." Onchou explained. "Not only that but you have to make it to the top within a certain amount of time and break the stone tablet in front of the door at the top to keep the alarm from sounding."

"Why on earth would someone go to that much trouble?" The dog trainer asked glancing around. "I mean we're still ten miles from the village and all but it's nothing but desert." He said looking towards the village. "It's not worth it." He said taking a step towards the desert.

"Don't!" Onchou and Tamiki cried out simultaneously grabbing the dog trainer by his clothes and dragging him back.

"Ouch! What the hell!" he exclaimed.

Tamiki sighed. "That desert isn't safe to cross. Not by a long shot."

"What are you talking about? It just looks like sand to me." Naruto asked moving closer.

The violet haired girl sighed. "Sasuke, look at the desert with those special eyes of yours and tell me what you see."  
The Uchiha raised a brow but obeyed closing his eyes and then opening them again with his sharringan activated. He nearly stumbled back. "What are those things?!" he exclaimed.

"Sentinels." Tamiki replied. "Nasty looking buggers aren't they?"

"What can you see?" Shikimaru demanded.

"There are creatures beneath the sand. All sorts of them. Giant scorpions, tarantellas, strange looking centipedes." He explained.

"What do you expect from a village famous for beast taming?" Onchou replied.

"True enough." Shino admitted. "So what do we do now?"

"Like I said, we'll have to get the chakra boards stored in this tower but we'll have to survive the traps first." She explained.

"Ok. So how do you want to do this?" Gaara asked.

She touched her finger to her chin and thought for a moment. "I'm not strong enough to break the stone at the top but I know that Sakura is." She said glancing at the pink haired medic. "However I don't think I'll be able to keep both of us safe from the traps on my own." Her eyes fell on Sasuke. "Alright Uchiha. You're coming with me and Sakura. The three of us will clear the tower."

"Why me?" he asked moving forward.

"You have the sharringan. By default that makes you the person most likely to be able to dodge and get past the traps set in here." She said approaching he door. "The moment one of us steps over the threshold of this place we'll know if it's active or not. If it is we'll have four minutes to get to the top and stop the alarm. If it's not active we'll just go to the top and retrieve the chakra boards." She looked at Sasuke. "Our job is to clear the way for Sakura. She'll break the stone at the top."

"Understood." He said moving towards the door.

"Ok." Sakura said coming up behind them.

"Be careful in there." Tamiki warned them. "Jonin level ninja have died in that tower."

The violet haired girl chuckled. "These two are members of the new Sannin. They'll be fine." She said before she pushed the door open. "Ready Sasuke?" He nodded and the pair of them stepped past the threshold.

Sakura watched cautiously as the two ninja in front of her surveyed the dark inside of the tower in their own way the man with his devilish red eyes and the woman with her ears that glowed silver in the dark. Light suddenly sprang to life and torches lit up against the walls.

"It's active!" Onchou sputtered. "Get ready! Sakura, stick to Sasuke like glue! I'm going ahead to clear as much of it as I can."

"Right." She said as the young woman drew her sword and closed her eyes.

"Both of you listen closely. I know you have your eyesight but even people like you benefit from having a heads up. I'll call out the traps as I hear them engage." Onchou said her brow furrowing. "On your left above!" she called out.

The pair of ninja leapt out of the way of a flurry of kunai and quickly leapt up and charged up the wall.

"Under you! The wall!"

It began to shift under their feet and Sakura flipped out of the way as a sheet of stone jutted out from the wall. Onchou reached out and grabbed her by the wrist from where she was suspended above her holding on to a rope and tossed her onto the ledge above.

"Keep moving!" she instructed the medic as a blade shot out from the wall. "Our job is to get you to the top so move!"

"Right!" Sakura said charging back up the wall.

"More kunai on your right!"

She yelped as another flurry of kunai exploded from a nearby wall and her eyes widened when she heard the familiar cracking combined with the high pitched screech of a hawk as lightning appeared in front of her diverting the path of the projectiles. "Thanks Sasuke!" she called out as she regained her balance on a ledge and then went back to work charging towards the top of the tower.

Part of the way up she lost her footing and a little scream escapeing her as she began to fall.

"Hurricane gale jutsu!" Onchou called out from below her. The blast of wind chakra sent both she and Sasuke flying up towards the top and the Uchiha unsheathed his katana and plunged it into the side of the wall just feet from the top of the tower and wrapped his arms around the medic's waist supporting them both.

"You're nearly there!" Onchou called out from below them where she was dodging traps. "Just break the stone in front of the door!"

"Ok!" Sakura said as she looked for a good hand hold. "You know this reminds me of a time long ago when I saved your life, only I was the one holding you." She said as she spotted one.

"I don't remember that." Sasuke grunted as he helped her get a hold on the rock.

"Of course you don't." she replied. "You were unconscious, you idiot. That's how it normally goes you know. You won't let me help you unless you don't have a choice." She replied before charging up the wall the rest of the way. She arrived on the top floor and was surprised to see door with a large stone slab in front of it. She bowed her head and began to focus her chakra into her fist when something whizzed past her. To her surprise, a stone soldier stood in front of her wielding a sword.

"Umm… Guys a little help here!" she called out as she dodged another blow. "I can't break the rock if I'm dodging this thing!"

"What's taking you Uchiha?!" She heard Onchou call out. "My hands are full down here!"

"Give me a second!" he replied.

Sakura sighed and jumped kicking the stone soldier back. It stumbled but still kept moving focused on her.

"Break the stone!" Sasuke called out from below her. "Leave the stone guy to me."

"How can you do that from where you are?" she asked.

"Just trust me!" he replied.

Her eyes widened and her heart pounded. Trust him? That was asking for a lot. She loved him, she loved him with everything she had. Trusting him was another matter entirely. "You're overthinking this." her inner voice reminded her. She gritted her teeth and focused her chakra into her fist turning her back on the stone soldier coming after her. Her fist slammed into the stone slab at the same time the soldier swung yet all she felt on her back was the sensation of stones lightly tapping her. The slab cracked and fell with her blow and then vanished crumbling to dust revealing the door behind it. She turned to see Sasuke standing behind her with his katana in the stone soldier's chest. He electrified the blade and it broke to pieces scattering on the floor in front of her.

"Are you ok?" he asked her as his sharringan deacvated.

"Yeah. Thank you." She replied blushing a little.

"Good job." Onchou said appearing beside them. "We got that done with time to spare." She walked forward and pushed on a panel on the wall. A set of winding stairs appeared then surprising the two leaf shinobi. "Nice save there at the last second Uchiha." The violet haired girl said as she pushed the door open.

"Of course." He replied. "I'll always protect my teammates."

The medic chuckled. "That's one thing about you that hasn't changed. If you're on someone's team you'll protect them even if you hate them."

He cocked a brow at that but she just smiled as Oncho walked into the room. "So we'll need seventeen boards." She muttered her brow furrowing. "I hope there's enough." She said as she pulled a board out of the room. It was about four feet long, one foot wide and smooth with two spots marked on the other wise plain wooden surface.

"That' a chakra board?" Sakura asked looking at the object.

"Yes." Onchou replied handing it to her. "Start pushing them down the stairs."

Minutes later the three shinobi walked out with their own chakra boards in tow.

"There were exactly seventeen boards left." Ochou said as she walked out to see the others examining their own boards. "Luck is on our side today." She said with a smile.

Tamiki smiled as he stepped onto his own board where the marks were. He and the board suddenly lifted into the air and stopped so he was hovering about a foot off the ground. "Man! It's been so long!" he exclaimed. "I feel like I did when I was nineteen doing this for the first time." He said shifting his back foot. The board leapt forward at the movement and he chuckled as he maneuvered he board by shifting his weight back to the group and then jumped off.

The other ninja watched their eyes a mix of surprise, shock, excitement and apprehension.

"That is chakra boarding!?" Naruto exclaimed. "That looks like more fun than riding Sai's birds!"

"Speaking of which, why not use those instead?" Shikamaru asked.

"They'll be too easy to spot from a distance." Onchou replied.

"Ok, so how do these work?" Kankuro asked.

The violet haired girl smiled. "You place your feet where the marks are." She said stepping onto the board. "Then you focus your chakra into your feet like you would if you were going to walk on water or run up a tree." She said focusing her own chakra. As she did, the board instantly rose into the air stopping to hover about a foot off the ground like Tamiki. "To move you move your back foot." She explained. "If you shift your heel towards the back of the board you'll move forward, if you shift it towards the front you'll move backwards." She said demonstrating the movement. "The further forward or backwards you shift your foot determines your speed too. Does everybody understand?" The ninja nodded. "Perfect!" she said with a smile. "Everybody get on your boards and try it out. We'll head out once everyone gets the hang of things."

&#&

Sai stepped onto his board and channeled his chakra into his feet and felt the familiar sensation of rising from the ground. Chakra boarding felt similar to riding his own ink creations and the foot work was pretty simple. In no time he had it down and was gliding easily through the air. His eyes were drawn to his blonde girlfriend who was staring at her own board apprehensively. He maneuvered his own board towards her using his body weight to shift it in the direction he wanted to go and stopped.

"Are you having trouble Ino?" he asked.

"I'm not sure about this." She admitted. "I feel much better with my feet on the ground."

He smiled at her. "Just give it a try." He said extending his hands to hers. "I'll help you."

She nodded and stepped onto her board. A little shriek escaped her lips as the board leapt into the air and she nearly fell over. Sai reached out to her steadying her with his hands and smiled. "That wasn't so hard was it?"

She rolled her eyes. "Easy for you to say." She muttered. "You're a natural."

"I'm used to hovering like this on my birds." He explained. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you don't fall."

She smiled. "Thank you Sai."

Sakura stepped onto her board and focused the chakra in her feet. When the board rose, she was ready, bending her knees slightly the way she'd seen Onchou do. She smiled at the floating sensation and experimentally moved her foot back and forward as she learned to control her speed. Through trial and error she quickly learned to shift her body weight to change the direction of her board and became caught up in the sensation of it. She was surprised when another boarder crashed into her knocking both of them into the sand.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke said looking down on her from where he was straddled above her. "I think I might be trying too hard to focus my chakra. I mean it's just like walking on water but I feel like I have to use more chakra than that." He admitted.

The pink haired medic chuckled. "Well, I'm not surprised. Your chakra control has always been one of the few places you struggled."

"Shut up." He muttered a little blush coming to his cheeks.

"So are you going to ask me for advice this time or are you going to wait until Naruto does and then ask him for the advice I gave him?" she asked remembering the genin days.

He sighed. "You already know the answer to that." He muttered.

The pink haired medic laughed and got to her feet and reattached herself to the board. "Alright, then. Let's try this again." She said with a smile. "Try not to think about it too much. Just imagine you're standing on water. You really don't need to use any more chakra than that I promise you."

He nodded and stepped onto his own board. After a few attempts, he too had it down and was gliding easily across the sand.

"See! I knew you could do it." Sakura said with a smile.

He rolled his eyes. "You're still better than I am." He muttered.

The pink haired medic smiled. "Yes I am." She said. "Chakra boarding, medical ninjutsu, raw strength, and chakra control." She said counting them off on her fingers. "I mean you beat me in everything else so I can have those right?"

His eyes widened and then fell slightly. "No. You forgot caring about others, intelligence, teamwork, and a slew of other things I don't have time to name right now." He said gliding on his board to her. He reached out and touched her face lightly touching her cheek with his fingertips. "I'm sorry for all of the times I pointed out your weaknesses and threw them in your face before." He said softly. "I was just trying to convince myself you were weak so that I could blame anything bad that happened to you on your lack of power instead of my absence or inability to protect you myself. Besides, if there's anything I learned on my trip to Hell and back it's that power doesn't really matter in the end. Loving people and being loved is what's most important." He tapped her in the middle of her forehead. "You and Naruto taught me that."

Her eyes widened at his words and then she blushed. "Sasuke." She murmured.

He leaned forward until their foreheads were touching. "Thank you Sakura. For loving me in spite of everything. I'd be so lost without you."

She smiled. "Of course. I'll always love you Sasuke."

*%*

Naruto stood with his hands in Hinata's as he balanced on the chakra board.

"See?" Hinata said smiling at him. "It's quiet easy once you get used to it."

He nodded as he glided forward faster pulling Hinata with him as he grinned. "I can see why Onchou liked this so much." He said. "This is a lot of fun!"

She smiled at him and then blushed when he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Thanks for helping me Hinata. I would've been stuck without you."

The bluenette bowed her head. "It wasn't anything special." She replied. "I'm sure Sakura could've helped you too."

The Uzamiki shook his head. "No, it had to be you Hinata." He said with a smile leaning forward to kiss her lightly on the lips

She blushed even darker and nodded. "Thank you Naruto."

Onchou glided through the small group assisting those who needed help and giving encouragement to those that were on the right track. After a few moments, she realized that she hadn't seen Gaara around and frowned. She finally spotted him on the outskirts of the group and glided to where he stood staring at the board.

"Is something wrong?" she asked as she stepped off her own board. "Is it broken or anything?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so, I was just wondering if my sand would work just as well."

She raised an eyebrow. "I guess it would but that would use up a lot more chakra than this will."

The Kazekage nodded and stepped onto the board with a sigh. It quickly rose and she noticed that he locked his knees. He immediately toppled over when the board reached its intended hover height and she covered her mouth as she giggled. The sand wielder blushed and looked away. "Yes. I'll just use my sand." He muttered.

"Wait!" Onchou exclaimed grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet. "I'll help you. You're just a little too stiff. Watch me." She said stepping onto her board. As soon as her feet were in place she bent her knees. "See? I bend my knees and then focus my chakra." She said as he board rose into the air. "That way, when the board reaches its hover height, I'm better balanced."  
He nodded and stepped onto the board and it moved up right away. When it hit hover height he wobbled slightly but Onchou reached out and grabbed his hands steadying him. "There." She said with a smile. "Now let's try moving."

After a few minutes, it was clear that chakra boarding was not something the red head had a natural talent for but he'd managed to at least get the basics down. He stepped off the board and sighed.

"I'm sorry that I'm not very good at this." He said hanging his head slightly.

Onchou laughed in response. "Why on earth are you apologizing?" she asked. "That's ridiculous. That would be like me apologizing for being a totally awful artist." She replied. "Everyone has things that they're good at and other things they're not." She replied. "You're easily one of the most powerful ninja in the world. You're also intelligent, open minded, kind, and honorable. You also happen to be very handsome. It just wouldn't be fair to all of the other men in the world if you were an expert at chakra boarding too." She said with a wink. "No one's perfect, not even you. Besides, in the whole scheme of things chakra boarding amounts to very little in this world so don't worry about it ok?"

He blinked at her and then gave her one of his rare smiles that made her heart nearly jump out of her chest and her cheeks blazed. "Thank you Onchou." He said simply.

"You're welcome." She replied offering him a warm smile of her own. "We should catch up to the others."

&%&

Shikamaru watched the exchange between the Kazekage and the survivor from Heiwa his own eyes widening as he saw the normally stoic faced man smile at the girl. He leaned towards Temari. "I had no idea your brother smiled at all, let alone like that." He said keeping his voice low so that the others around him wouldn't hear.

The fan wielder glanced over in the same direction and smiled. "He does smile occasionally." She replied. "But he only smiles like that around her."

"Are you ok with that?" the shadow shinobi asked. "I mean, you used to scold all of the other girls who were after your brother before."

The blonde shrugged. "What can I say? I like her." She admitted. "She's not like the others. She doesn't care that he's the Kazekage, or that he's powerful, or good looking. It's more genuine than that." She sighed. "I can't quite explain it but I think she understands him on a deeper level. Not only that but I've seen them fight together and each other. In their first fight together, they managed to fuse their techniques and power together to make a jutsu that I've never seen or heard of before."

"What was that?" Shikamaru asked.

"She combined her lightning with his sand and made a glass dragon." She replied.

The shadow shinobi's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" he murmured.

The fan wielder nodded. "It was incredible but the other thing that convinced me is even more amazing."

"What can be more amazing than creating a new fusion jutsu on the fly like that? I've only hear of one other couple doing that and they're standing over there." He said motioning to Naruto and Hinata.

"They were fighting each other in a one hit sparing match and she managed to get past his ultimate defense." She replied watching the girl help Kiba figure out how to balance both himself and Akamaru on the board.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "No way!" he exclaimed. "That's nearly impossible!"

Temari nodded. "Exactly. Not only that but," she glanced over at her brother. "We discovered during the war that the defense wasn't something created from the tailed beast he used to carry inside of him. It was a jutsu left to him by our mother."

The shadow ninja nodded. "I see."

"I can't help but think that perhaps she was able to get through because my mother allowed her to." The blonde said as her attention drifted to her older brother who was practicing on his own board. "I mean, it wasn't like her attack got to him, she managed to get her entire body into that ball of sand with him."

"I see." Shikamaru said glancing at the girl. His attention shifted back to Temari and he leaned forward kissing her softly. "Are you ready to crack the whip or do I need to?" he asked.

"I'll get it this time." She said with a smile before she stepped forward. "If everyone has this chakra boarding thing down, shouldn't we get going?"

Gaara nodded. "Yes. Since Onchou and Tamiki know where we're going and are the most experienced, we'll have one in the front and one at the back."

"I'll go in front." Tamiki volunteered. "I've been here most recently. Onchou can take the rear."

"Sounds good to me." The amethyst eyed girl replied.

"Get into positions everyone." Naruto called out.

"On your mark Tamiki." Shikamaru said as he stepped onto his board.

"Very well." The older ninja said. "Remember, the ground beneath us is crawling with sentinels. If anyone touches the ground, we'll alert them to our presence and not only have a fight on our hands but it'll alert the enemy to our presence. Stay on your guard."

P.S. Ok, this chapter took longer than anticipated and was information packed. I apologize. Thanks for sticking with this story so far. The next chapters should be action packed with peppering's of sweet moments. Also, I apologize if someone's ship/character isn't getting as much love as they'd like. I'm trying to make it balanced but I'm also trying to keep the story going at a good pace. Thanks again!


	22. Chapter 22

The group of ninja glided across the desert on their chakra boards. Onchou listened carefully to the creatures moving beneath the desert floor. They hadn't noticed their presence yet, but she didn't think their luck would hold out much longer. Sure enough, she heard a pin slip from Ino's hair and hit the desert floor.

"Crap!" she hissed as the creatures moving beneath the sand stopped and then quickly began to rise towards the surface. "Everyone watch out!" she cried. "The sentinels know we're here!"

"What?" Kiba called back as Akamaru growled in response.

"The sentinels!" she called out in frustration. She'd tell them to run faster but it was a useless term give the situation. "Damn it all!" she hissed. She shifted her front foot slightly and then moved her weight back tipping the board up slightly and forced her hover height to increase. She drew a kunai and listened for the creatures. The first one, a scorpion the size of a small car popped up out of the ground with claws clicking and its stinger blazing intent on snatching TenTen from her board. "No you don't!" the violet haired girl growled throwing the kunai with a paper bomb attached to it at the creature. It sank deep into its head and the creature hissed before it exploded raining bug guts down on the desert.

"What was that!?" The weapon master asked regaining her balance.

"A sentinel and that was just the first one!" she called out. "Everyone get across the desert as fast as you can. Follow Tamiki! I'll hang back and fight them off!"

"You're not staying back by yourself!" Kankuro called out.

"I'll be fine!" she called out.

"Stop thinking you have to do everything on your own!" Naruto yelled. "I'll stay back with her. The rest of you get out of here!" he said gliding back to her.

"You don't have to." The violet haired girl replied.

"I want to, because I'm your friend." He said floating beside her. "Just tell me where they are."

"Ok. We'll protect them from here." She said her eyes narrowing as giant creatures popped out of the sand.

"Alright. Let's get to work then." He said as a rasengan appeared in his palm. He maneuvered his board towards a giant centipede and destroyed it.

The amethyst eyed girl smiled. "Ok then." She said drawing her sword as a tarantella appeared before her and glided towards it. She moved her blade so that it was flat against her fore arm and slipped under the giant spider slicing the blade through four of its legs. The creature screamed and she whipped around and threw a paper bomb at the creature destroying it.

"Are you sure they'll be alright?" Sakura asked as they glided away from the two shinobi.

"Of course. Naruto is there." Lee replied. "We should get across this desert quickly."

She nodded and blinked in surprise when a giant bug appeared in front of her. Her hand balled into a fist and she slammed her fist into it destroying it instantly.

Ahead of her Sasuke drew his katana and created his lightning blade slicing through the multiple legged creature in front of him. As he sheathed his sword, he lost control and started to fall forward.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed pushing her own board forward. She reached out and grabbed his wrist and pulled him upright.

"Thanks." He replied.

"Anytime." She replied. "It's ok for you to rely on me too you know." She said keeping her grip on his hand as they worked their way through the maze of monsters and sand.

"You can let go of my hand." The Uchiha said as they glided.

She laughed. "Are you kidding me? No way. You might seem cool and collected but you're really no good on your own."

His eyes widened as he watched her. The pink hair dancing around her face in the wind, the brilliance of her smile, and the sensation of her hand in his. Inside of him a feeling of warmth and comfort flowed through him. She'd never let go of his hand, he knew it. He was a fool for letting her go all of those years ago, for not returning to her side after completing his vendetta like he'd planned to. If he'd just held on to her hand he never would've been manipulated by Madara. His grip on her hand tightened as he made a solemn vow to never let go of her again. He'd hang on just as tightly as she always had. She'd keep him from falling into the shadows again and he'd protect her from everyone who dared try to snuff out her light. He'd protect her future while she protected him from his past.

"We're here!" Tamiki called out. "They can't follow us past this point." He said as he jumped off his board just inside a line made of stone. "Hurry!"

The shinobi quickly glided inside the line and gathered near it with Hinata and Gaara standing closest to the barrier their eyes locked on the last remaining ninja headed their way.

"Naruto." Hinata breathed her hands clasped together as he cried out slamming a fist into a centipede that had nearly caught him.

"He'll be fine." Sakura assured her friend coming up beside her. "It's Naruto."

"I know that. I just can't help but worry about him." The blue haired ninja replied watching as Onchou grabbed him by the back of his shirt dragging him out of the path of a scorpion stinger before lopping it off with her sword.

Beside them Gaara's jaw clenched his hands twitching at his side as the temptation to reach out with his sand and drag the reckless pair inside the barrier raged inside of him.

"They'll be fine." Kankuro assured his younger brother walking up to stand beside him.

"They're both so reckless." The Kazekage muttered under his breath as they both used a burst of wind chakra to propel them faster towards the barrier. One last giant scorpion began to rise and the violet haired girl smirked.

"See you in a minute!" she said blasting the blonde with another shot of wind chakra sending him flying past the barrier where he landed in the sand next to Hinata.

"What the Hell!?" he exclaimed. "What are you doing?!" he demanded as he jumped to his feet ready to go back after her.

"Wait." Tamiki said pulling him back. "I think she knows this one."

Onchou hovered in front of the massive scorpion who clicked it's pincers at her. She smiled and glided forward touching it on the forehead. "Want to play Scorpio?" she asked.

The massive creature clicked its claws in response and then dove into the sand. She smirked and took off across the last stretch of desert. The creature rose up again from the sand and she bent her knees crouching low on the board before she shifted her body and rode up the back of the creature. She grabbed the edge of its armored back and her body lifted into the air before she drifted back down again. She made her way along Scorpio's back as he moved flipping and gliding in complicated patterns as they both approached the barrier. She glided her way up his tail and then jumped off her board and landed at the base of the stinger. The creature flipped its tail and she went flying.

"Onchou!" Sakura called out her eyes wide.

"Someone catch her!" Kiba exclaimed moving forward.

The violet haired girl merely flipped in the air and landed on her back in a nearby sand dune.

"Are you alright!?" Naruto exclaimed running towards the pile of sand. "What were you thinking?!" he demanded.

They found her laying on her back with a huge grin on her face with her arms spread out. Musical laughter tumbled from her lips. "I haven't had that much fun in years!" she exclaimed between giggles. She finally sat up and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I just couldn't resist."

"How do you know that creature?" Shino asked.

"Scorpio?" she replied. "He was tamed by my grandfather. He looks big and scary but he has a soft spot for me." She smiled and waved at the creature who clicked in response and sank back into the sand. "He was a lot smaller when I saw him last though." She admitted.

"Are there more like him?" the bug user asked.

She blinked and sat up brushing the sand from her clothes. "Sure, there's a few." Understanding dawned on her as she realized what he was asking. "Oh, I see. They don't do well outside of this climate. They're not very obedient either but if you really think you're up for it, I'll see if I can find a nesting female before we leave this place."

The goggle wearing man nodded. "Thank you."

She nodded and then glanced at the Kazekage who was glaring daggers at her. "Is something wrong Gaara?" she asked.

He shook his head but didn't look at her. "Shikamaru, let's get that map out. Onchou should be able to get a good read on the situation now." He said quickly.

"Right." The shadow shinobi said walking forward and laying the map on the ground.

The violet haired girl nodded and sat down on the ground in front of the map and studied it for a moment memorizing what had been drawn so that she could apply her information appropriately. Her eyes closed and she laced her fingers together as she focused her chakra. The air around her change making the ends of her hair twitch as the tattoos on her pointed ears changed from black, to silver, and the gold. Her brow furrowed slightly as she took a brush in her hand and started to move it across the map making marks across the surface. After a few minutes she frowned and flipped the map over and started to draw a series of underground tunnels and littered it with more marks. After twenty minutes, she put the brush down and opened her eyes the tattoos returning to their normal black color. She touched her forehead briefly and then sighed.

Shikamaru picked up the map and flipped it to the front side looking over the diagram of the village and the marks there. "The dots represent Dolls, the diamonds are members of his general forces and the stars are member of his elite forces." Onchou said tracing her fingers across the map.

"I only see one star and three diamonds on this. The rest are dots." He muttered. "Why is the security so lax?"

"Because Takuma isn't on the surface of the village. He's hiding below it." Tamiki said taking the map and turning it over. "How much was your hearing distorted?" he asked as he traced over her lines.

She blinked in surprise and then shrugged. "I took my time to get though all of the interference." She replied. "I'm fairly certain he's in this room." She said pointing at the large room where all of the tunnels met.

"You know what that means right?" Tamiki said looking at her with the same amethyst eyes she had.

"What does it mean?" Temari asked.

"If he's already in the Stone Room than that means he's already aware of our presence here and is waiting for us." The older ninja replied. "Otherwise he'd probably be here." He said motioning to another, smaller room nearby. "This room was used to shelter the family of the Guardian during times of crisis and has everything someone would need to not only survive, but live comfortably for a while." He glanced at Onchou. "Tell me, did your mother become Guardian?" he asked.

Onchou's eyes widened. "I… I don't know. We never talked about it." She admitted.

The man nodded. "Well, regardless he can't use the stone so we should focus on taking down his top forces."

"I agree." Shikamaru said. "These Dolls, they're strong but unable to use Chakra right?"

Onchou nodded. "Exactly. They're not really a threat to people like us but to normal people and genin level ninja they're a problem."

"How many are here?" he asked.

The girl sighed. "I can't tell for sure without using my marking jutsu since their songs all sound exactly she same to me, but from what I can hear he's got at least four thousand of them give or take five hundred or so."

Kiba's eyes widened. "If he has that many, where are they?"

"Beneath us." She replied. "This village has a very intricate tunnel system build beneath it. "Not only that but I'm fairly certain he's still making more as we speak."

"Well that's a pain." He muttered. "Going after these guys underground sounds dangerous."

She nodded. "I agree. Even I don't know those tunnels well."

"Drawing them out doesn't seem like a very good option either." Shikamaru said touching his chin. "We don't have the element of surprise that way and they get to call most of the shots. What do you suggest Gaara?" he asked.

The Kazekage frowned as he looked over the map. "I think we should take on the elite force member here on the surface." He said pointing at the star on the map. "This one should give us a feel as to how the rest of his forces will stack up against our strength and then we can proceed from there."

Onchou sighed. "Alright then. Let's go find Flail."

"Flail?" Naruto repeated.

"That's the elite force member here on the surface." She replied leading the way through the remains of the village.

"What can you tell us about him?" Shikamaru asked.

"His name comes from his weapon of choice." She replied. He's a massive man and it probably the strongest person physically in Takuma's forces."

"Can he use chakra?" Kankuro asked.

She nodded. "He can't perform any sort of genjutsu but he does use earth style jutsu."

"That doesn't sound too difficult." Kiba replied. "He sounds like a big dull animal."

Onchou chuckled. "Generally speaking that's pretty accurate but that doesn't mean he'll be easy to beat. His loyalty to Takuma is astounding and his stamina is off the charts. It's not so much a question of being more skilled than him, it's outlasting him that's the problem." She said as they walked.

"I'm sure we can take him." Chouji said.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm not worried about you being able to defeat him. It's the others that I'm worried about."

Naruto reached out and clapped her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it so much! We'll cross that bridge when we get to it ok? Just take everything one step at a time."

The girl's eyes widened and then softened. "Right. Thanks." She said with a smile. "He won't be alone either. Just like the last ones we fought, he'll have the rest of his team with him as well as Dolls."

"Do you know his team?" Sakura asked.

The girl nodded. "One of them is a water user, the second one is a wind user, and the third one is a lightning style user."

"That should be simple enough." Sai replied from where he walked next to Ino.

"Sure." Onchou replied her voice a little wispy.

"Onchou seems troubled." Lee remarked.

"How could she not be?" Sakura replied watching the violet haired girl glance around the remnants of buildings and scattered pieces of people's lives strewn about. "The last time she was here, she and her family were running for their lives."

"That is true." He replied.

"I know how she feels." Sasuke said taking Sakura's hand in hers. "It's probably similar to the first time I returned to the Uchiha compound after everything happened." He said watching the young woman as she knelt down and picked up a doll wearing a singed dress tracing her finger over the painted face that had faded over the years. "It's a feeling that can't really be explained but it hurts. A lot."

Sakura squeezed his hand and nodded as the girl laid the doll down under the awning of a building. The pink haired medic went to take a step towards the young woman when she noticed the Kazekage walk towards her clearly intent on talking to her.

"She'll be fine." The Uchiha said. "She has friends to support her."

"You had that too you know." The pink haired medic replied watching as the girl turned away from the red head sand wielder with her head bowed quickly walking away. "You just couldn't see it. It seems like she's having that problem too."

His eyes widened. "I did that too didn't I?" he muttered. "Pushed away people who were trying to help me."

She nodded. "Yeah, you did. You big dummy." She said nudging him affectionately. "You figured it out eventually though."

The sun began to dip in the sky just as they neared the city center. "Be on guard." Onchou said softly. "Flail is nearby."

Almost on que, a giant man hefting a massive three tailed flail appeared from behind a building. He was over seven feet tall with thick muscles and light grey eyes. His thin brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail and he was wearing ragged clothing.

"He really is big." Kiba murmured as Akamaru growled.

"That's a product of human experimentation for you." Kankuro replied wrinkling his nose slightly at the disproportioned massive hands and short legs.

The bulk of a man seemed to notice their presence and his eyes narrowed a low growl sounding in his throat as he lifted his weapon. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"We are ninja from The Village Hidden in the Leaves and The Village Hidden in the Sand." Shikamaru answered. "We're looking for your boss. Can you tell us where he is?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "What business do you have with my master?"

"We just want to talk to him about why he decided to move in here." The shadow shinobi replied.

He grunted and took a step forward looking over the ninja and was about to swing his weapon at the group when his eyes fell on Onchou.

"Princess?" he said softly his eyes widening.

"Hello Flail. It's been a while." She replied stepping forward from where she stood between Gaara and Kankuro.

The bulk of a man set his weapon down and rushed towards her with speed that didn't match his size and swept her into his arms. "Princess!" he exclaimed tears running down his cheeks. "I was worried!"

The ninja stared in shock at the scene confused and on edge. "What is going on?" Naruto asked softly.

"This might be the reason she seemed reluctant to fight this guy." Shikamaru replied.

"Princess! I am so happy you've come back to us! Master will be so happy to see you again." He said setting the girl back on the ground. "Come! We must go at once!" he exclaimed reaching for her hand.

She hung her head. "Can my friends come with me?" she asked.

Flail frowned. "These people are your friends?" he asked.

Onchou nodded. "They are."

He frowned. "I was told that I can only bring you back to the master." He said.

"Then I can't go with you." She replied simply.

"Why not?" he replied. "Master has been very mad while you've been away. I know that seeing you again would make him happy."

The violet haired girl frowned and moved closer examining a mark on his arm. "He took his anger out on you didn't he?"

"No. This is because I displeased Master by failing an experiment. I was merely punished." He replied.

"Liar." Onchou replied. "I can hear your heart remember."

The man blinked and then hung his head and pulled her close again. "Please come back Princess! Master needs you! He will be happy if you are near! Everything will go back to the way it was! We know that you did not run away. You and Ryuu just got separated from Master during the war."

"Flail." She said pulling out of his arms. "That's not right. I did run away. I ran away and took Ryuu with me."

The man's grey eyes widened. "Why would you run away Princess?" he asked. "Did I do something to upset you?" his brow furrowed. "Did one of the others make you angry?"

"No Flail. I ran away because I couldn't stand being with Takuma another day." She replied taking another step back from the man.

His breathing began to increase at her words. "I don't understand." He murmured. "Master said he was doing all of this for you. He was going to make this world better and you were going to rule by his side. Why would you betray him Princess?"

"Flail. I'm really sorry." She said taking another step back. "Takuma is evil. All of those horrible things he made us do are because he only wants power. He's just using you."

"No! Master would never use me!" he exclaimed. "Master is kind."

"How can you say that!?" she exclaimed. "I've healed the injuries he gave you!"

His eyes widened. "You are kind Princess. How could you betray our Master like that?"

Her eyes blazed at his words her hands shaking. "That monster is not my Master." She growled.

"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed. "Onchou isn't a slave to anyone!" Murmurs of agreement went through the crowd at his words.

Flail's eyes widened. "These people, they have changed you." He whispered. "It's ok Princess. I will take care of them and then we will go to Master. He will fix you." He said forming hand signs.

"Flail! Don't do this!" Onchou said her eyes widening. "Please! I don't want to fight you."

"Then don't." Tamiki said resting his arm on her shoulder.

"We'll take care of this guy, don't worry." Kiba said walking up beside her.

"Yeah, just stay out of the way. Let us handle it." Shino agreed stepping forward.

The hulk of a man growled in response and swung his weapon at the group. "Get away from Princess!" he roared.

Three men dressed in black appeared beside the hulk of man accompanied by twenty Dolls.

"You found the princess?" one said.

"Master will be very please." The second one replied.

"I'm sure he will reward us very well." Came the third voice.

"How do you want to divide them up?" Naruto asked.

"Wait a minute." Onchou said. She closed her eyes and raised her hand in front of her face as she focused her chakra and sang a song in a language none of them could understand. For the second time in less than two months she sang the seek and mark song. An orange ball of light appeared in her palm and she gently pushed it into the air above her and then slashed her arm across her body. Beams of orange light shot from the ball like lasers striking the Dolls in the middle of their foreheads marking them with a glowing mark in the shape of a music note. Lights streamed into the walls around them and the violet haired girl nodded her brow furrowing slightly. "I knew it. There are more Dolls here than just the twenty in front of us."

"How many?" Kankuro demanded.

"One hundred. That seems to be the magic number when it comes to Dolls lately." She replied.

"What a drag." Shikamaru muttered. "Knocking out that many guys won't take too long though."

The violet haired girl shook her head. "You have to kill these things. They're not human, they have no souls. That's why they can't use chakra." She explained.

"My team will focus on taking care of the Dolls." Gaara said motioning for Temari, Kankuro, Tamiki and Onchou to get into formation with him.

"We've fought these things before and we're better prepared for this sort of thing." Kankuro said with a smirk.

"This is something Sand Shinobi do better than you Leaf ninja anyway." Temari said with a wink as she pulled her fan from her back.

"Alright then. We'll focus on the big guy and the chakra users then." Shikamaru replied. "Since they have the most members, we'll let Naruto and his team handle the big guy." He said glancing at their opponents. "My team will take the guy on the left. Kiba, you and your team take care of the guy on the left and Lee, you and TenTen can take care of the guy on the far left. Sound good? When you've defeated your opponent, go help Gaara's team with those Dolls."

The ninja nodded and Flail huffed his hand clenching and unclenching as his eyes focused on Onchou who was standing next to Gaara with her sword in her hand.

"Stay close to me." The Sand Wielder instructed.

"I can take care of myself." She responded quickly watching the Dolls shift around them.

"That's true, but I promised Ryuu I'd protect you. I can't do that if you're not by my side." He replied.

She chuckled a little smile coming to her lips. "As you wish Lord Kazekage." She teased. "Just don't slow me down."

Flail watched the exchange and his eyes widened. "Princess…" he murmured. "I haven't seen her smile since Akira died." His grip tightened on the weapon in his hand. "Why can't she smile like that for Master?" he muttered.

"Because obviously that Master of yours doesn't make her happy." Sakura replied pulling on her gloves. "She'll never smile like that at him because he's a heartless monster."

"Don't speak ill of my Master!" the bulky man cried out slamming his weapon into the ground creating a small sand explosion.

"Well, there's the starting bell." Shikamrau said glancing at his team. "Let's do this!" he exclaimed forming hand signs.

#&#

Team seven leaped into action as the massive man swung his weapon. Sakura dodged the tails and then charged at the man focusing her chakra into her fist leaping into the air.

"Cha!" she exclaimed slamming her fist into the middle of the man's chest knocking him back several feet. Flail's massive body slammed into the wall behind him and then burst through it large chunks of rock raining down on him.

Behind her Sasuke smirked as he drew his sword. 'That's my girl." He said to himself before he charged in after her funneling electric chakra into his blade. He swiped it through the air as the giant staggered to his feet and removed his arm. The man roared in protest and swiped his remaining arm at the Uchiha. He braced for the blow and was surprised when he felt something tug him back. Naruto grinned at him and then vanished in a puff of smoke as he took the blow instead. 'Shadow clone' he thought as he flipped back landing lightly on the ground watching as his blonde friend slam a rasengan into the man's stomach sending him crashing into the ground. Sai quickly swopped in as the Uzamaki leapt from the crater and sent a barrage of painted beasts at the man. He growled and swatted them away as the four shinobi regrouped.

"One more series of hits like that should bring this guy down." Naruto said as he watched the man stand up and cough blood spilling from his mouth onto the sand below.

"Right." Sakura agreed tightening her fist.

"Let's do this." Sasuke agreed.

"After you." Sai replied smiling at his teammates.

"Go!" Naruto exclaimed and they went after the man again.

"Shikimaru!" Ino called out as they fought. "I was wondering, what was Temari talking about?" she asked as she kicked their opponent in the face before leaping back so he could be mowed over by his human boulder. "What do Sand Shinobi do better than Leaf Shinobi?"

The shadow wielder chuckled as he used his jutsu to paralyze their opponent. "See for yourself." He said as Chouji landed the last blow crushing the man.

The blonde turned to see the sand team and watched at Temari sliced a group of three Dolls to ribbons with her wind chakra combined with her fan. Kankuro followed right behind her manipulating his puppet slabbing four through the chest. Tamiki leapt through the air and beheaded two Dolls in midair as he wielded two curved swords and drew another pair in half as he landed lithely on the ground. Gaara clenched his fists reducing six of the Dolls surrounded by his sand to nothing but clumps of flesh. Onchou leapt through the air and snapped the neck of one Doll with a twist of her hands and then leapt into the air and sent a blast of lightning through the chests of two others. Ino's eyes widened at the violent sight.

"Maybe it has something to do with the harshness of the climate and the sun. In the desert only the strong survive and it comes down to kill or be kill far more often here than it does in The Land of Fire." Shikamaru said with a smirk. "Out of all of the shinobi in this world, those that come from The Village Hidden in the Sand are the most skilled, and ruthless killers."

"Isn't that a bad thing?" Ino asked cringing as she watched Kankuro's puppet move to stand protectively in front of Temari's back. It drew one of the Dolls into its chest and moments later, the Doll's mangled body was spat back out onto the sand.

"Not in this situation. We're distracted by the fact that those things look and move like we do and hesitate to kill them. That would put us in a dangerous situation, but with them here, we don't have to worry about it so much. They've already decimated more than half the Dolls in the time it took us to defeat that guy we were fighting." He grinned at the blonde haired shinobi as she tore through another Doll. "We're lucky to have them as our allies."

%$%

Within half an hour, the battle was over and Flail lay on the ground as blood seeped from his body. Team seven turned just in time to watch the team from Suna deliver their final blows to the remaining Dolls.

"Good! Everyone is done then." Naruto said as he leaned against a chunk of stone that had fallen from a nearby building in the heat of battle.

"Looks like it." Sakura replied slipping her gloves from her hands. "Onchou was right, that guy's stamina was off the charts."

Sasuke nodded and sheathed his katana the weapon that had made the final blow as Sai dropped down beside him.

Onchou bumped into Gaara's back and turned to face him. "Good work." The Kazekage said touching her on the top of her head.

She smiled and blushed at the gesture. Her smile widened when Temari nudged her. "Not bad girlie." The blonde complimented her. "You truly have the claws and fangs of a true kunoichi from Suna."

"Why?" Flail rasped.

"Why what?" Naruto said glancing back at him.

"Why does she smile like that? Why does she seem so happy?" he asked.

"Because she's around people who love and care about her." The Uzamaki replied.

"I don't understand." He gurgled. "Master said he loved her."

"I don't think he loves her so much as he loves her power." Sasuke replied. "There's a big difference between the two. Having someone love the whole you means so much more."

The big man's eyes widened and then softened as Onchou walked up to him. "I'm sorry Flail." She said softly kneeling beside him. "I never wanted things to end up like this."

"Princess. Are you happier with these people than with Master?" he asked reaching for her with his one remaining hand.

She nodded as she took his big hand in hers. "I am."

Flail sighed. "Then stay with them." He said as his life left his body.

A little smile touched her lips as she released his hand and rose from the ground. "We should probably get going." She said. "We need to rest for a bit before the next volley. I can hear five songs moving this way. Takuma must be more impatient than I thought."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Do you remember how I told you about The Fatal Five?" Onchou replied. The pink haired medic nodded. "Well it sounds like they're going to be our next opponents. That means Takuma has decided he wants to end things quickly."

"I'm assuming you're going to give us additional information on these warriors?" Gaara replied.

She nodded as she slipped inside and abandoned house. "Yes I am. These five shinobi are powerful, experienced, and highly skilled." She explained sitting down on the floor. "They each have their specialties so I'm going to give you a run down on all of them so that you can decide for yourselves who would be best to fight who." she said running her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to warn you right now, that these people are not afraid to fight dirty. They will find and exploit any weakness they can find. The crap they've pulled over the years I'm sure would make every person in this room sick regardless of how shady your past might have been." She said glancing at the Uchiha. "Anyway, I'll get on with it." She slipped a clear marble from her pack and whispered in a musical tone words that others around her couldn't understand and rolled it to the middle of the room. "Wraith." She said in a clear tone. The stone shimmered and then projected an image into the middle of the room. A man with tattered grey clothing appeared in the middle of the room. Bandages were wrapped around most of his face and all that was clearly visible was his eyes. They were pale blue and dead looking. In his hands was a katana as well as a ball and chain.

"He's a water chakra user." She said as the image slowly spun. "He's also a master of camouflage jutsu. His genjutsu mixed with shadow clones is what really gets people though. He makes multiple clones and transforms them so that they look like his enemy particularly when they fight in teams."

"That sucks." Kiba muttered. "You could totally attack your teammate thinking it was a clone."

She nodded. "Like I said, these guys fight dirty. The other thing that's creepy about Wraith is that he never says anything. You could scream at him all day long and he'd never say a word. It literally drives people crazy when they fight him because everyone unconsciously makes assumptions about people based on their voice. It's unnerving to fight someone who won't make a sound no matter what you do to each other."

"Seriously, that's super creepy." Chouji admitted.

She nodded and then looked at the stone again. "Blood Rain." She called out. The stone shimmered again and a man with jet black hair, crimson eyes, and a wicked grin appeared. He wore red from head to toe with the only break in color being the bandages wrapped around his ankles and wrists but even those had blood stains on them. Blades protruded from his forearms, the back of his calves and his fingertips.

"Well, that guy looks sharp." Chouji said.

The ninja snickered at the joke and then focused on Onchou again. "Oh he is, in more ways than one. He's the best at taijutsu out of the group." She replied. "He also uses wind style chakra specializing in slicing techniques. He's not nearly as underhanded as the others though, he'll just come at you desperate to see your blood." She said shaking her head at the image. "He's incredibly fast and precise with his blades."

The ninja nodded and she glanced at the stone again. "Soul Stealer." An image of a man wearing black from head to toe with striking green eyes, blood red hair and tan skin appeared. In his hand was a scythe and a mask that looked like the bottom half of a skull covered the underside of his face.

"He's the best scythe master I've ever seen." She replied. "He also uses fire chakra. The weirdo laughs the entire time too under that creepy mask of his." She muttered a little shiver going through her. "He's also experienced at using shadow clones, and he can use genjutsu to make you think he's actually a Shinigami. It probably won't detour most of you war veterans but it's something to watch out for."

"Sounds simple enough." Shikamaru replied. "How advanced is his fire style jutus?"

She thought for a moment. "It's not his weapon of choice but it's pretty formidable. I've seen him make a fire dragon once but that was only because he'd lost his scythe."

Sasuke nodded and touched his chin. "That's pretty impressive but if it's not his weapon of choice then we'll just have to defeat him before he uses it."

The group nodded and Onchou looked at the stone again. "Nightmare." She said clearly. The stone shimmered again and a man wearing black and green with what looked like wings attached to his back appeared. Long black hair flowed down his back and his teeth were pointed. He had light pink eyes and his hands were like a lizards with scales and claws.

"What is he?" Ino asked wrinkling her nose.

"I think he's Takuma's attempt at making a gargoyle." Onchou replied. "Or one of the people he spliced Hisame's DNA with. I don't know." She replied. "However, I can tell you right now that those wings on his back work."

"He can fly? That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. "Just like Sasuke used to." The Uchiha rolled his eyes and focused on the creature in front of them.

"Sure…." Onchou replied in a confused tone. "Anyway, he uses water chakra and is able to infuse it with his sword. His water slicers are pretty intense. I almost lost an arm to one once." She said touching her shoulder.

"How did that happen?" Shino asked. "I thought you were one of Takuma's precious test subjects."

She snorted. "Right. Precious. He didn't really care what happened to me as long as my life was never in danger. As long as he could put me back together, he didn't care how many pieces I was in during my training."

"Training?" Hinata asked glancing at the amethyst eyed girl.

The tan skinned girl nodded. "Yes. I suppose I didn't mention it. The Fatal Five were all my teachers. I learned most of my battle skills from them."

"Well that explains why you're so fierce in battle." Sasuke said glancing at her.

"Speak for yourself snake boy." She snapped. "You're exactly the same as me, learning to fight from experienced killers."

He shrugged and looked at the image. "Anything else we should know about this guy?"

"He's fast. Faster than anyone I've ever seen. Take your eyes off him for even a second and he'll be gone and you'll have a wound you didn't have before you blinked." She replied shaking her head. "In the six years I was with Takuma I could never come close to his speed, thus the whole nearly losing my arm thing." She took a deep breath and then spoke clearly to the stone again. "Heart Taker."

A toned, athletic man with blonde hair, sky blue eyes appeared. He was wearing a pair of black slacks and a white button down shirt that was half undone exposing his sculpted chest. His weapon's pouch was attached to his belt instead of his thigh and even in holographic form he gave off an inviting, sensual aura.

"He's beautiful." Ino murmured. "Like an angel."

"Ino!" Sakura hissed elbowing her friend in the ribs.

"Ouch! Watch it billboard brow! I'm just being honest. You know it's true." The mind transfer ninja retorted.

The pink haired medic blushed and then coughed.

"Focus ladies." Shikamaru said his eyes narrowing slightly as Temari stared at the man.

"He doesn't seem very well armed." Naruto remarked. "He'll probably be the easiest to take down."

Onchou laughed and then her face became deadly serious. "That kind of thinking right there will get you killed. He's the leader of The Fatal Five."

"No way! That pretty boy?" Kiba stammered. "How can that be?!"

The violet haired girl sighed. "His genjutsu is the nastiest stuff I've ever seen." She replied. "He's sadistic, and loves to break people." She shuddered. "He's so lightly armed because most of the time he doesn't have to kill his victims. They usually kill themselves or beg him to kill them. That doesn't mean he isn't powerful by any means. He uses lightning chakra and is deadly accurate."

"What could he possibly show people that would be so awful that you wanted to kill yourself?" Chouji asked. "I mean most of us have stared death in the face and didn't flinch."

The amethyst eyed girl sighed. "Every single person here has another person that is their weakness. A lover, a family member, a friends, or even a pet that means more to them than any other being in this world. He's able to see into your heart briefly and find who that person is. Once he's done that, you're as good as dead. It's even worse if that person is close by physically."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"You have to be straight with us if we're going to figure out a way to beat this guy." Shikamaru said. "We can handle it."

The amethyst eyed girl sighed and raked her hand through her hair. "Fine." She glanced around the room. "Ok… we all know that the most important person to Shikamaru is Temari right? If you didn't well now you do, congrats. Anyway if you saw her bound and about to be killed what would you do?" she asked.

"I'd do everything to save her of course." He replied.

"Exactly." Onchou replied. "Now what if you couldn't do anything? If you were somehow paralyzed yourself and couldn't do anything, you couldn't even speak to let her know you were there and she wouldn't die alone?"

The shadow shinobi's eyes widened. "That would be Hell." He admitted.

The violet haired girl nodded. "That's what he does. Not only that but he tortures them in every way possible. I don't need to go into specifics for you to figure out what that means."

"That is seriously messed up!" Kiba exclaimed.

"I told you he was." The violet haired girl replied. "As he's torturing them, he tells you that their suffering will be over as soon as you die so most people kill themselves or beg him to kill them thinking they're saving their loved one especially if they're actually there." She sighed. "The worst part is, let's say we're back to Shikamaru and Temari and Heart Taker really is torturing her, because he really will if that person is nearby, and Shikamaru agrees to kill himself to save her. Heart Taker won't just let her go. He'll cast the same genjutsu on her and make her watch him kill himself over and over again until she's begging to die too."

"Damn!" Naruto hissed. "This guy seriously sounds like a creep. How do you beat him?"

Onchou looked down. "I honestly don't know." She admitted. "It's awful because even if you manage to see through the genjutsu, the images are still there and throw off your focus. Your best bet would probably be to overwhelm him with numbers since I've only seen him manage to keep two in a genjutsu at a time."

"How does he cast his jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"He uses a powder infused with his chakra." She replied. "It activates as soon as you breathe it in."

"I see. Well I guess we'll have to get to work putting teams together. We should probably rest since these guys sound like they're going to be a heap of trouble." Shikamaru said.

"Right." Onchou said picking up the clear stone in the middle of the room. "I'm going outside for a few moments." She said.

"Sure." The shadow wielder said. "Thanks for your help."

"Anytime." She replied before she slipped out the door.

"She's doing pretty well all things considered." Shino said as he watched her leave.

"Yeah. She's pretty tough." Chouji agreed.

Gaara watched her and rose to follow when Shikamaru called out to him. "Would you mind helping me with the teams?" he asked. "I'm at a bit of a loss at how to arrange things."

The Kazekage hesitated torn between his duty and his desire to look after the violet haired girl when Tamiki walked up to him.

"I'll stay with her until you're finished." He said moving towards the door.

"Thank you." The sand wielder replied before walking to join Sasuke, TenTen, Kankuro and Shikamaru.

Onchou sighed as she felt a presence approach her, she knew exactly who it was. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked.

"That is my line." He replied walking up to stand beside her gazing up at the stars that were beginning to wink to life in the sky. "Can you hear if anyone is coming?"

She shook her head. "It's quieted down below us. I'm guessing they want to wait until morning. Nighttime battles aren't ideal for either party."

He nodded and they stood in silence for a few moments before he spoke. "You know, I never abandoned your mother." He said looking across the village. "When I made that promise, I had every intention of keeping it however I was sent on a lengthy mission right after I returned from the mission to Heiwa and wasn't able to return until right around the time it was attacked again." He bowed his head. "I regret not being there for her, and for you."

The violet haired girl nodded. "I know that." She replied even as her grip tightened on her arms that were crossed over her chest. "It's just hard to process it all. Mother hated me from the moment I was born."

Tamiki glanced at her. "That can't be true. Aria was a very loving person."

Onchou shivered. "Then something must have happened to her. When I was born she tried to kill me."

"Why would she do that?" he asked. "I'm sure she was just disoriented."

The girl sighed. "It was because I had your eyes." She replied.

Tamiki's own eyes widened. "I… I'm so sorry." He said reaching towards her.

"Don't be." She said stepping away from him. "It's not your fault. In the end they comforted her during her final moments. She asked me to look at her as she died and said that she was happy to see your eyes one last time."

The man behind her shook. "Takuma killed her didn't he?"

She nodded and he gritted his teeth before he reached out and wrapped his arms around her. "You don't have to do this." Onchou protested. "I'm fine on my own."

"Please let me." He said softly. She froze in his arms. "I wasn't able to protect your mother or you before and I'm so sorry. I'll never be able to make up for all of the terrible things that you suffered in my absence, but I'm here now. I'll spend the rest of my life protecting you the way I always should have because I am your father." He squeezed her tightly. "You're not alone anymore."

Tears welled in her eyes as the place in her heart that had been empty since the day her grandparents and mother had died was filled a little. She laid her head on his shoulder and shook as the tears slid down her face. "I… I'm really not alone?" she murmured.

"Yes, you're not alone." He replied as he released her and stepped back. "In fact you have grandparents, an uncle and two cousins." He said with a smile. "When we get back, I'll introduce you to everyone. You're a member of the Buki clan after all."

The violet haired girl smiled. "I'd like that. Thank you." She glanced behind her father and noticed Gaara watching them with a touch of a smile on his lips nodding to her. Tamiki turned and then bowed to the Kazekage. "I'll be waiting inside." He said walking away. He stopped as he neared the sand wielder. "Lord Kazekage, I have nothing but respect for you but she is still my daughter. You know what that means right?"

"Of course." Gaara replied. "I won't dishonor her in anyway." The older man nodded and stepped back into the small building as the red haired man approached the violet haired girl. "Were you able to speak with him?"

She nodded. "I feel a little better now. It's just a little strange. I thought I was all alone in the world but it turns out I have a family after all."

He nodded and looked up at the stars. "Today was hard on you wasn't it?" he said.

Onchou nodded. "Flail was one of the only people in the laboratory that didn't look at me like I was a piece of meat or a pest to be picked off at the first opportunity. He was gentle and kind to me." She sighed. "I knew it was because Takuma told him I was important but over time it became more genuine. If he hadn't been so brainwashed by that mad scientist he probably would've helped me escape but Takuma had him convinced that everything he did to me, he did because he care about me."

"I see." Gaara replied. "You couldn't bring yourself to hurt him because you cared for him."

"Yeah. Pretty pathetic huh? I mean, he's the enemy right?" she said hanging her head a little.

"I don't think so." He replied. "It just means that you care about people. Look at Sasuke, his friends care about him even when he became the enemy. They never wanted to kill him even when they had every reason to. They just wanted to bring him back home." She nodded and he looked over at her. "Do you have any feelings like that for the ones we'll likely be facing next?"

She snorted. "Not at all." She replied. "I can't stand any of them. Their blood lust and desire for destruction sickens me. They might have been my teachers but they only taught me because Takuma ordered them too." She chuckled. "They literally ran me into the ground and wouldn't stop until Takuma made them which was only when I was unconscious or getting too close to death's door."

The sand wielder sighed. "That explains why you're so tough."

The girl blushed and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Gaara. Thank you for caring about me." She said softly as her heart pounded in her chest. "I…" she reached for him her hands resting on his arms. "When this mission is over, I have something important to tell you. Is that alright?"

He blinked in surprise at her posture as she kept her head down her cheeks blazing. "Of course." He replied. "I'll always listen to what you have to say. You can tell me now if you want."

She shook her head. "No. It's ok. Thank you, really." She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a quick hug before she went back inside. "Come on. We should discuss the plan. I'm fairly certain they won't come for us tonight."

Gaara nodded as she walked inside and then covered his mouth with his hand as his face blazed. The serious look on her face, the embarrassment. Did she plan to confess to him? He couldn't deny that the idea made his heart race. Receiving confessions was something he'd dealt with pretty regularly since becoming Kazekage but he'd always been quick to turn them down. He'd known that they were only interested in him because of his looks and his title but Onchou didn't seem to care about things like that. He felt a connection to her that he couldn't quite explain. It was likely what Sakura had said the other day was true.

"Gaara! Come inside will ya!" Naruto called out. "We're going to go over the plan for tomorrow."

He nodded and quickly walked over as the thought passed through his mind. He was in love with Onchou. What he would do with that feeling however he would have to decide at another time.

$!$

Sakura sighed as she sat down by Sasuke.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I'm just a little nervous about tomorrow." She admitted. "They all seem so powerful."

The Uchiha shook his head and ruffled her hair. "This coming from the girl who helped take down the wicked woman trying to steal all of the chakra in the world?"

Sakura shrugged. "All I did was punch her once."

"If you hadn't punched her when you did, Naruto and I would've missed and who knows what would've happened." He replied.

"If you say so." She replied. "But in all seriousness, I am nervous. That guy Heart Taker in particular freaks me out."

"Don't worry. I won't let anything bad happen to you." He assured her.

"You don't have to protect me. I can take care of myself." She replied.

He sighed. "You don't have to prove anything to me." He said. "I know very well how strong you are. You're easily the strongest Leaf Kunoichi here." He looked over at her and laid his forehead against hers. "But as a man, I want to protect the one I love. Is that wrong?"

Her cheeks blazed at his words. Very rarely did the "L" word fall from his lips. It thrilled her and made her thankful that she'd never given up her feelings for him. "No." she replied smiling up at him. "I'll protect you too."

He smirked and nodded. "You always do." He said turning his head to quickly kiss her cheek. He watched as Shikamaru talked with Gaara and Onchou who had just entered the building with Naruto as he went over the tentative plan. "Shikamaru really is fantastic when it comes to strategy." He admitted.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Kakashi Sensei said that he was impressed with him especially after Azuma Sensei was killed. He came up with a plan, organized his team and had executed it within two weeks of his death. In fact, he personally took on the one who dealt the killing blow to Azuma alone and defeated him."

The raven haired avenger sighed. "He did in two weeks what it took me years to accomplish."

The pink haired medic laughed. "Yes he did, but don't beat yourself up over it too much." She said before quickly changing the subject. "So who do you want to fight?" she asked. "Shikamaru arranged the teams so each one could handle any of the members, I'm just curious."

He thought for a moment. "I almost want to fight Heart Taker just so that I can pit my genjutsu against his but I wouldn't want to expose you to that kind of danger. I suppose Wraith would be the easiest opponent for me to beat since my eyes would allow me to see right through that clone, transformation jutsu he uses."

"That's true." Sakura replied. A yawn escaped her lips and the Uchiha brushed her hair from her face as she leaned against him.

"Rest." He told her. "We'll let you know if anything happens. Everyone managed to escape their battles unscathed but that probably won't be the case tomorrow. We'll need your strength."

"You should rest too." She replied even as she snuggled closer to him.

"I will." He assured her.

Within moments she was sleep and he smiled down at her. Gaara moved to stand beside him and spoke softly. "Are you satisfied with your team arrangement?" The sand wielder asked him.

The Uchiha nodded. "We did the best we could to make the teams balanced. That meant team seven would have to be split up."

The teams had been arranged as follows:

Sakura, Sasuke, and Kiba.

Naruto, Hinata and Shino.

Shikamaru and Temari.

Ino, Sai, and Chouji.

TenTen, Lee, and Kakuro.

Gaara, Tamiki, and Onchou.

Gaarra nodded watching as his normally tough sister snuggled next to Shikimaru, her head in his lap as she rested.

"It looks like things between Shikamaru and Temari are going well." The Uchiha commented.

"They are." The red head replied. "That also means I'm going to lose one of my best Kunoichi to the Leaf."

Sasuke nodded and then glanced over at Onchou who was talking with TenTen as the brown haired girl examined her sword. "I think you'll be gaining another though so it'll be fine." He said watching the violet haired girl show the weapon master how the sword had two ranges.

"If that is what she wishes." Gaara replied.

"It's clear she wants to stay by your side." The Uchiha replied. "Why not let her?"

"I do not know if I could make her happy." He replied. "My past is heavily stained with blood. I am also the Kazekage and will not be able to give her the time and attention she truly deserves."

Sasuke sighed. "I bet she has just as much blood on her hands as you do. Because of that, she's probably one of the only people in this world that will not only be able to truly understand you, but accept you completely." he brushed his hands over Sakura's hair as she slept. "I've done a lot of messed up things in my life too and Sakura still loves me. Being with her makes me happier than anything else." He looked up at the Kazekage. "One of my biggest regrets is not admitting that I loved her sooner. In our world, the person we love more than anything can be taken from us in an instant. If I were you I wouldn't make the same mistake I did. It took watching her vanish from my sight in an explosion to finally get it through my head that acting on my feelings wasn't a bad thing."

The red head nodded. "Perhaps you have a point. What if she doesn't feel the same way about me though?"

The dark haired leaf shinobi smiled. "Just hold on to those feelings anyway, she'll come around. It worked for Sakura but I don't think you'll have that problem." He said watching as Onchou glanced over at where they were situated talking and flashed a smile before turning back to TenTen who gave the sword back to her.

Gaara chuckled. "What a strange turn of events. The Kazekage getting relationship advice from the former rouge ninja Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked. "Well, that blonde idiot is here." He said glancing at Naruto. "Strange things tend to happen when he's around."

"Very true." The Kazekage said moving away from the wall to approach the amethyst eyed girl.

The Uchiha shook his head and then glanced at Naruto who was laughing with his arm around Hinata as he talked to Kiba. He then leaned down and pressed his lips to the pink haired medic sleeping against him. "Thank you Naruto, for keeping her safe for me." He murmured before he closed his own eyes and allowed his body to rest.

P.S. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next one will probably be a little slower to come out since writing fight scenes takes a bit more time and effort but I promise that it will be worth it! I'm also cooking up a couple of hotter scenes for our present ships so there's another thing to look forward to. Like I've said before, I have a plan for this story and we're rapidly approaching the climax of this story arc. Thanks for all the love and support!


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Notes:** Thank you all for sticking with this story as long as you have! I really wasn't planning on making it this long when I first started but I'm glad it's still going. We're getting so close to the climax I can almost taste it and I'm getting super excited! (I'm a sucker for big battles, what can I say.) As for how long I'm going to continue after this arc is over I'm not entirely sure. I've got a couple ideas swirling in my head for continuations/sequels to this for multiple ships but I'm still up in the air about it. I am still very open to the idea though. Anyway, enjoy this slightly more action packed chapter!

*#*

Sakura was awaken by a strong shaking sensation and the sound of her name. "Sakura! Get up! They're almost here!" Sasuke hissed dragging her to her feet. The medic was immediately on high alert and looked around noting the other ninja around her jumping to their feet and shifting their weaponry to easy to reach places.

"How close are they?" Gaara demanded.

Onchou closed her eyes her ears glowing slightly as she tapped into her power. "Less than a mile away." She replied.

"Hinata. Can you see them?" Shikamaru barked.

The blue haired woman activated her eye power and nodded. "Yes! All five of them are coming together and it looks like they've got Dolls with them."

"Exactly as I anticipated." The shadow shinobi muttered. "It's a good thing we came up with six teams."

"We need to separate them as soon as possible." Onchou said as she adjusted her weapons pouch on her leg. "They're most powerful as a team. Wraith and Heart Taker in particular are devastating when they combine their genjutsu."

"Right." Shikamaru said as he handed out radios to all of the team members. "We'll head out and intercept them. As usual when you finish off your opponent, head to the team that needs the most help. Sai, your team is going to be in charge of taking care of those Dolls and running air surveillance." He smirked at the pale faced shinobi. "Don't worry. I won't ask you to hold back at all."

"Thank you." Sai replied. "We'll leave last then."

"Alright. Then if we're ready, let's head out." The shadow wielder said.

The group of seventeen shinobi walked out of the building and Onchou closed her eyes once more to get a clear read on the approaching enemy. "They're still coming from the east." She said opening her eyes and glancing towards the rising sun.

"Very well." Shikimaru said. "Let's go Temari."

She nodded and the pair of ninja took off across the roof tops.

"Don't you dare die on me." The shadow shinobi said as they ran.

"Same goes for you shadow boy." She replied with a smirk.

"I found the first of them!" a voice called out.

"Huh?" Shikamaru muttered. He glanced up and his eyes widened as a man with leathery wings flew towards them. "Temari! Above you!" he called out.

The sand shinobi gasped and flipped out of the way of an incoming attack landing next to her partner in a clear space between buildings. The man swopped down and landed in front of them and grinned at them exposing his pointed teeth.

"Who are they?" a smooth voice said.

"A sand kunoichi and a leaf ninja." Nightmare replied.

"A pair of lovers?" Heart Taker said as he and the rest of The Fatal Five materialized next to the flying man.

"Who knows." The beastly looking man replied. "I want the girl though. You know how much I love blondes." He said licking his lips.

Heart Taker sighed. "Very well. Since Princess isn't with them, they're of no use to me anyway." He said tossing his blonde hair. "Finish them off quickly and rejoin us."

"As you wish." Nightmare said with a bow. "You aren't going to ask them where their companions are?"

"No. It would be a waste of time." Blood Rain replied. "Leaf Shinobi never betray their comrades and recently the Sand Shinobi have been signing the same tune. It's more fun to hunt them down anyway."

"Let's go." Heart Taker said and in an instant they were gone.

"We've made contact." Shikimaru said into his radio. "We're about to engage Nightmare in combat. The rest are headed your way."

"So you know my name already?" the man said crossing his arms over his chest. "How rude, you must tell me yours in exchange."

"Temari." The blonde replied.

"Why did you tell him?" Shikamaru asked.

"I thought he'd like to know the name of the woman that's going destroy him." She replied with a smirk.

"Feisty! I like it." Nightmare said with a grin.

"You're ridiculous." The shadow shinobi muttered.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway." She replied with a wink. "Now let's take care of this guy Shikamaru."

"Right." He said forming hand signs.

Nightmare grinned. "This will be fun." He said. "Let's get started!" he said taking off into the sky.

"Freak!" Temari hissed as she threw a kunai after him.

The man cackled and then swooped through the air a glint of metal briefly catching the shadow shinobi's attention. Shikamaru hissed as he felt something slice through his arm and warm blood seep through his sleeve.

Nightmare landed in front of him and chuckled as he licked the blood from his hand. "You don't taste half bad Leaf ninja." He murmured. "Maybe I'll tear you apart first."

"Are you alright?" Temari asked noting the blood.

"I'll be fine." He replied gritting his teeth. "Worry about yourself." 'Onchou wasn't kidding.' He thought to himself as he worked to roughly bandage his wound. 'This guy is crazy fast. I didn't even see him when he hit me.' he frowned as he studied his opponent. "Temari! We need to clip this guy's wings."

"I'm on it!" she replied opening her fan and sending a barrage of wind blades at the man. He smirked and vanished. "What!?" she exclaimed. She cried out as claws slashed across her back and she fell to the ground.

"Temari!" Shikamaru cried out rushing to her side. His eyes widened at the sight of her bloodied back.

"Sorry. You were supposed to be the one with scars on your back." She rasped offering him a pained smile.

His hands balled into fists. "Damn him!" he growled. "He's going to pay for this." He stood and his hands began to form signs.

"Are you getting serious now?" Nightmare asked grinning at him as he licked Temari's blood from his claws.

"Yes I am, and when I'm done with you, you're going to wish you'd never came out of that lab you freak show." He hissed as his eyes blazed as she shadows around him twitched in anticipation.

%*%

Naruto, Hinata and Shino nodded as they listened to Shikamaru's message.

"We were the second group to leave so it will only be a matter of time before we run into the rest of The Fatal Five." Shino said as he ran. "We will have to approach this enemy with caution because we do not yet know who our opponent will be."

Naruto's eye twitched. Even after being friends with the insect user for years, the guy's way of speaking grated on his nerves. "We know Shino." He replied. "Can you see them Hinata?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes! They're nearly on top of us!" she exclaimed.

The three leaf ninja dropped to the ground as the four remaining members of the original five materialized in front of them.

"More Leaf ninja." Blood Rain said as he looked them over. "This blue haired chick is pretty hot too." He said licking his lips. "I bet she'd look even hotter in pieces."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he shifted to stand protectively in front of his girlfriend.

"Down Blood Rain." Heart Taker said softly. "We're looking for Master Takuma's precious Princess."

"Yeah but like I said before these Leaf Ninja aren't going to just come out and tell us where she is." The man in red replied in a whiney tone.

Heart Taker nodded and then his eyes narrowed as he looked over the group of three. "Those marks on the face." He murmured studying the blonde ninja. "I think this one is Naruto Uzamaki."

"Is he really?" Soul Stealer replied. "Interesting." He turned to the blade wearing man. "Sorry Blood, this guy is out of your league."

The crimson eyed man sighed. "True enough. Lame!" he muttered.

Wraith stepped forward raising his katana as the desert wind whipped the wispy grey clothing he wore around him.

"You're going to take care of them then?" Heart Taker said glancing at his companion.

The ghostly looking man nodded and pulled his ball and chain free from where it rested on his hip.

"Very well then. Be careful. Don't underestimate that blonde kid." Heart Taker said glancing at Naruto again.

Wraith nodded and the three remaining members vanished in a puff of smoke.

"We've made contact." Shino said into his radio. "We're about to engage Wraith in battle."

"So, you're going to be our opponent?" Naruto asked staring down the man. When he said nothing he glared at him. "Why are you so dead set on getting Onchou back anyway? She's happy with us." He said.

The ghostly looking man again said nothing but tilted his head to the side a little smirk barely visible under the bandages covering his face.

"What's that smirk for?" The Uzamaki demanded balling his hand into a fist. "Do you think it's funny that Takuma has tortured her for so long? Or are you surprised Onchou actually has people who care about her?" Wraith simply swung the ball attached to his chain around as the blond haired ninja glared at him. "Answer me damn it!" he yelled.

"Naruto." Hinata whispered. "Remember what Onchou said? He doesn't talk."

The Uzamaki blinked and then sighed. "Right. How annoying." He muttered. "Well, let's take care of this quickly." He said slamming his fist against the palm of his bandaged hand.

Shino nodded and a flurry of insects flowed from his sleeves and swarmed the man. In seconds however, there were several copies of Shino, Hinata and Naruto strewn about and Wraith was nowhere to be seen.

"Aw man!" Naruto exclaimed. "This is the guy who does the shadow clone and camouflage thing too huh?"

Hinata nodded clutching at his arm.

"Ok. You two take care of things while I get into sage mode. I'll be able to see right through this annoying jutsu of his after that." He said.

"Right!" Hinata said focusing her advanced eyesight.

"You can count on us because we are your friends. We will not allow the enemy to take you." Shino replied.

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes as he focused on the nature chakra around him frowning when he realized it would take longer than expected with the lack of life in the desert.

Beside him Hinata shrieked. "Shino! It's me!" she exclaimed. "Get them off me!"

"How can I be sure that it is you?" The bug user replied. "How can you be sure that I am me or that the Naruto you're clinging to is the real one?"

"You're falling right into his trap Shino!" the blue haired girl replied. "Focus!"

"It is Naruto that needs to focus so that he can quickly activate his sage mode." The bug user replied.

Hinata sighed and then grunted as she blocked a blow from one of Naruto's clones. "Hurry Naruto!"

"I'm almost there!" he assured her. "Just a little more time."

She nodded and then gasped as a chain wrapped around her dragging her from the Uzamaki's side. "Shino! Help me!" she exclaimed.

"Are you the real Hinata?" he replied.

"Shino please!" she begged.

The bug user sighed and then unleashed another wave of beetles that quickly began to eat away at the metal of Wraith's chain. The ghostly man snapped the chain back freeing the girl but knocking her to the ground in the process. She yelped as a rock bit into her skin and stood up again a gasp of surprise escaping her lips as she found herself surrounded by clones of Naruto.

"Hinata! I'm so glad you're safe." One of them said extending a hand to her.

"No! You're not Naruto!" she exclaimed slapping his hand away. The clone vanished in a puff of smoke and another quickly took its place moving towards her.

"Hinata!" they called out. "Hinata! It's me! Trust me Hinata!"

"Stop it!" she snapped gritting her teeth. "You won't trick me that easily!" She focused her vision and systematically began to work through the clones tuning out their voices and their faces as she focused on her attack. 'If I let myself listen to them or look at their faces I'll get distracted.' She said to herself. 'The real Naruto will be in sage mode soon'. She felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around. Her mouth turned into a little o of horror as she found Wraith glaring down at her with his katana raised above his head ready to strike. Shino quickly moved towards her and blocked the blow with a kunai before insects swarmed the man.

"Thanks Shino." Naruto said putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "I owe you one."

The blue eyed girl jumped her hand raised ready to strike when she noticed the Orange rings around his eyes. Her own eyes focused and she saw his chakra network pulsing and a sigh of relief flowed through her. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. "It's really you. I'm sorry for doubting you."

He chuckled. "It's alright. You did what you had to." He said before he kicked a shadow clone in Shino's form. His gaze traveled over her body and settled on her knee where the flesh was torn. "How did that happen?" he asked.

"Oh. I fell when Wraith attacked me but it's not a big deal." She said quickly.

The Uzamaki's eyes narrowed. "Wraith!" he hissed. "He'll pay for that." He turned to the bug user next to him. "Shino. The real Hinata has a cut on her left knee. Remember that. It's how we'll be able to tell her apart from the others. As for me, I'm in sage mode and that can't easily be replicated."

"Very well." Shino said. "Shall we take care of this annoying foe of ours? He's really starting to get on my nerves with these mind games of his."

"Gladly." Naruto replied as air began to swirl in his palm. "I've had enough of his stupid games too."

TenTen, Lee, and Kankuro listened to Shino's message and nodded. "So it sounds like Nightmare and Wraith are being taken care of." TenTen said as she ran.

Lee nodded. "We are next in line so we will likely encounter the enemy next."

"If anything happens to Temari, I'll kill that shadow punk." Kankuro muttered as he ran.

"Don't worry about that." TenTen replied. "If something happens to Temari that Shikimaru will take care of him just like he did those creeps that killed Asuma Sensei."

The puppeteer nodded and then frowned. "Drop!" he called out.

Heart Taker, Blood Rain, and Soul Stealer landed in front of them and the leader looked them over.

"Two Leaves and a handful of Sand." Heart Taker said with a sigh. "Still no the Princess. What a troublesome matter."

"You leave Onchou alone." Kankuro growled.

"Yeah! She's been through enough!" TenTen exclaimed.

"Oh? What are you going to about it then?" Blood Rain asked clicking his blade tipped fingers together.

"We will stop you. Onchou is our friend and we will protect her." Lee replied shifting into a defensive position.

"Your friend?" Soul Stealer replied cocking a brow. "Why would she be friends with Leaf and Sand ninja?"

"Does it matter?" Blood Rain asked. "They're not going to tell us where she is. Go on ahead I can take these guys. I'll catch up."

"Right. Make it quick and try not to make too big of a mess." Heart Taker said with a long suffering sigh.

"Don't waste your breath." Soul Stealer replied. "He'll make an even bigger one now that you've told him not to."

The blonde shinobi nodded and in a flash he and Soul Stealer were gone.

"I guess this means that Blood Rain is our opponent." Kankuro said attaching his chakra strings to his puppet.

TenTen touched her radio. "We've made contact. We're about to engage Blood Rain in combat."

The bladed shinobi glanced at her as she spoke and his eyes darkened. "You're quite the pretty thing. You'll be even prettier covered in blood." He murmured.

"You will not harm TenTen!" Lee growled.

"Are you going to stop me then lover boy?" Blood Rain replied with a smirk.

"We both will." Kankuro said maneuvering his puppet forward. The puppet lunged at the dark haired shinobi with a sword in hand. The man blocked the blow with the blade on his forearm.

"You're going to have to do better than that." Blood Rain chuckled.

"Do not underestimate us!" Lee cried as he appeared from behind the man and slammed his foot into the back of his head sending the shinobi tumbling forward.

TenTen leapt into the air as Lee and Kankuro retreated and unleashed a flurry of kunai on the man.

When the dust settled he straightened and lifted his hand wiping the blood from where a kunai had sliced through his cheek his eyes narrowing. "This is the first time someone has every drawn blood from me first." He said softly. The air suddenly changed as wind chakra swirled around him. "I am not happy… I'll rip you apart!" he yelled as wind blades burst from his body.

The three shinobi scattered to avoid the attack and landed safely on roof tops above. "I think that we made him angry." Lee commented.

"You think!?" TenTen hissed sarcastically.

"Guys! Pay attention!" Kankuro barked as another series of wind blades whipped through the air.

"Blood! I need to see your blood!" Blood Rain screamed as he leapt into the air his arm blades aimed at TenTen.

She blocked the blow with a pair of kunai and then leapt forward slamming both of her feet into his stomach and knocking him to the ground.

"Sorry to disappoint you buddy, but it's not going to spill that easily." She replied.

He chuckled and she gasped as her shirt was stained red and she felt and saw the cuts on her sides for the first time.

"TenTen!" Lee called out running to her side.

"Damn him!" she muttered as she knelt clutching at her wounded sides as she noticed blood dripping from the blades attached to his fingers. "I didn't feel or see a thing!"

"The mark of a true blade master is that you don't notice you've been wounded until he's walked away." Blood Rain said standing up. He licked the blood from his claws and smirked. "Lovely. Maybe I'll save some for Nightmare. He likes the blood of women too. I bet he's torn that pretty blonde sand kunoichi to shreds by now."

"You sick bastard!" Kankuro yelled sending his puppet after the man.

"Ooh! Touchy!" Blood Rain said leaping out of the way. "Do you know that girl? You are both sand shinobi but Heart Taker said that the two were lovers, so what would that make you?"

Kankuro gritted his teeth and urged his puppet forward again it's multiple blades crossing with Blood Rain's.

"Hmm… Even under that paint I can tell you're far too young to be her father yet you're very protective…" he replied. His eyes suddenly widened and laughter tumbled from his lips. "I get it! You're her brother aren't you?"

The Sand Shinobi said nothing but gritted his teeth urging his puppet faster smirking as he landed a blow slicing Blood Rain across the chest. "I am her brother, which means disrespecting her in front of me was a fatal mistake."

#!#

Saskuke, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru glided across the village and Sasuke quickly activated his eye power as TenTen's message came across the radio.

"Prepare yourselves." He instructed. "The last two are close by."

"Right." Sakura replied.

"Yeah." Kiba said his grip on Akamaru's fur tightening. The animal suddenly yelped and whimpered. "What is it boy?" he asked. The dog whined a response and the trainer's eyes narrowed. "Drop!" he called out.

The two shinobi ahead of him obeyed as Heart Taker and Soul Stealer appeared before them. Amakaru growled at them the fur on the back of his neck standing on end.

"Is Akamaru alright?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah. He can just tell that these guys are bad news." Kiba replied.

"What do we have here?" Heart Taker said stepping forward. "A mutual and unrequited love in the same place." He shivered and grinned. "Oh what fun." He murmured walking forward. "I can understand why. I've never seen hair that color before. So exotic." He said reaching toward Sakura.

Sasuke and Kiba both moved the Uchiha drawing his katana as the dog trainer lifted a kunai. Akamaru stood behind the dog trainer shifting to crouch defensively in front of the medical ninja.

"Don't touch her!" the two ninja growled in unison.

Heart Taker chuckled and took a step back. "So violent." He said glancing at the two.

Sasuke's mismatched red and purple eyes flashed dangerously and the blond man smirked. "You're the last Uchiha aren't you? Sasuke Uchiha."

Soul Stealer glanced at the raven haired shinobi. "Is he really?"

Heart Taker nodded and then glanced at Sakura his eye drifting to the indigo diamond on her forehead. "That mark. You must me the new Slug Queen." He turned to Soul Stealer. "This group looks like it's actually going to be a challenge." He remarked. "Soul Stealer, go ahead and search for the Princess. I'll take care of these three."

"As you wish." Soul Stealer replied vanishing with a soft pop.

"We've made contact with the enemy." Sakura said into the mic of her radio. "We're about to take on Heart Taker."

"Please be careful." Onchou replied. "He's a devastating opponent."

"Don't worry about us. We'll be fine." Sakura assured her.

"You know who I am yet you still challenge me?" Sasuke said stepping closer to man.

Heart Taker chuckled. "Of course. I've always been curious to see if that Uchiha name lives up to its reputation."

Sasuke smirked. "The last person who said that to me ended up regretting that." He replied thinking of Rock Lee.

"That might be true, but I know exactly what your weakness is, or rather who it is. Your heart isn't as black as people say." Heart Taker said as he snapped his fingers and lighting burst from his fingertip and struck Sakura in the chest. She cried out in pain and dropped to her knees clutching at the wound.

"You bastard!" Kiba roared leaping at the man his fist shooting forward.

Heart Taker caught it and then threw the dog trainer across the open space where he slammed into a wall. "Come now, it wouldn't be any fun for me if I killed her right away." He remarked. "I just gave her a little taste of pain is all." Sasuke moved back slightly as Sakura got to her feet and the blond man frowned. "Not even a flicker of concern or fear for your loved one? Maybe your heart is black after all."

"You're wrong." Sakura said moving her hand away from where the wound had been. The skin was completely healed and all that remained was the singed spot in her clothes. "He just knows that it'll take a hell of a lot more than a measly lightning bolt to take me down." She pulled on her leather gloves and glared at her opponent. "I am not his weakness." She said as she leapt into the air. "I am his strength!" she focused her chakra into her fist. "Cha!" she yelled as she slammed her fist into the ground missing Heart Taker by mere inches. The ground cracked at the impact and sent the blonde man flying. He managed to flip and land on a building behind him that quickly crumbled.

He stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes. "It seems I've underestimated you." He said moving forward his hand balled into a fist. "Since it's like that, I guess I'll get serious."

"Scatter!" Sasuke yelled. The ninja including Kiba who had returned to the group obeyed just as he opened his palm and white dust flowed from his hand. "Don't breathe it in!"

Kiba and Akamaru weren't fast enough and immediately dropped to the ground as they became caught in Heart Taker's genjutsu.

Sakura also dropped to the ground and the Uchiha cursed. He used a blast of wind chakra to blow the toxic dust out of the air and dropped down next to Sakura.

"Sakura! Are you alright!?" he demanded kneeling beside her. She moaned in response and turned towards him.

"Go." She mouthed silently knowing he could read her lips with his sharringan. "I'm fine. This kind of stuff doesn't affect me. We'll just let him think otherwise."

He resisted the urge to smirk as he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before he rose. She screamed and writhed in the sand in the same way Kiba was and the Uchiha silently applauded her acting skills as he funneled lightning chakra into his katana.

"You're going to pay for that." He murmured as he faced down the blond man. "If you want to play mind games, that's fine with me." He said as the tomoes in his eyes began to shift. "You'll lose."

Gaara, Onchou and Tamiki ran through the abandoned streets of Heiwa moving towards their comrades engaged in battle.

"Damn it!" the violet haired girl hissed.

"What's wrong?" Tamiki asked.

"Nightmare." She hissed. "He got Temari."

Gaara glanced back at her. "How bad?"

"She'll be fine as long as she doesn't take another hit like that but it's slowed her down considerably." She replied her hand twitching.

"Shikamaru will take care of her." Tamiki assured his daughter.

She nodded and her brow furrowed in concentration. "Naruto's team is holding their own against Wraith now that he's in sage mode." She frowned. "TenTen's been injured by Blood Rain. Kankuro is fighting him now. On Sasuke's team, Kiba is out of commission but Sakura and Sasuke are fine."

"Very well." Gaara said. "Sai, TenTen and Temari are injured. Take Ino to them as quickly as possible." He said into his radio.

"Understood." The artist replied.

"We should head that way too." Tamiki said.

Onchou's eyes widened. "Drop!" she called out.

The ninja reacted on instinct and landed on the street below.

"What is it?" Gaara asked.

"I found you Princess." Came a low voice. Soul Sealer rose from the ground his green eyes piercing her. "Won't you be a good girl and come with me? I promise that the others will leave your friends alone if you do." He said extending his hand towards her.

Tamiki placed a hand on her shoulder keeping her from taking a step forward while Gaara shifted to stand in front of her.

"Don't worry. I won't go with him." She said softly. "I know that he's lying."

"You're just as perceptive as ever." Soul Stealer said with a smirk as he leaned against his scythe. "I always hated that about you. Even so, I'm taking you back with me. I'll take you by force if I have to."

"She won't be going anywhere with you." Tamiki replied lifting his hand to rest on the hilt of his sword.

Soul Stealer blinked and then laughed. "Do you really think a couple of sand shinobi like you can stop me?" he lifted his scythe and slashed it through the air fire exploding from the blade as he went. Onchou's hands weaved signs as she prepared to counter with a water attack but Gaara stilled her hands with one of his own. Her brow furrowed in confusion and then widened as sand swept out of the large gourd strapped to his back and hardened blocking the fire attack.

"You do not need to fight this battle alone." Gaara said glancing back at her.

Tamiki nodded and moved forward. "Please rely on us." He said smiling down at her. "We'll do this as a team."

She blushed and then nodded. "Ok. I'll do my best."

"What the Hell was that?!" Soul Stealer demanded.

"The Sand's Ultimate Defense." Gaara replied. "As we said before, Onchou isn't going anywhere with you."

Soul Stealer's eyes widened. "No way! You're him! Gaara of the Desert. The Kazekage! Why are you here?! Chimera and his team were supposed to kill you!"

"They failed." The sand wielder replied. "Only because Onchou saved me."

The green eyed man glared at the girl behind the Kazekage. "You saved him!?" he demanded.

She nodded and his eyes blazed. "You spoiled brat!" he growled. "How dare you betray Lord Takuma like that!? After all of the power and strength he gave you!"

The violet haired girl sighed. "I never asked for it." She replied.

"You arrogant bitch!" he screamed lifting his scythe. "I've always hated you!" he lunged at her and she drew her sword and launched at him crossing blades with the man.

"That isn't true." She replied looking into his eyes. "I can hear your soul. You desire me don't you?"

"Shut up!" he growled knocking her back on to the ground. "Don't you dare look down on me!" he slammed his scythe forward intent on hitting her but was blocked by twin blades as Tamiki defended her. Gaara's sand swirled around her lightly helping her to her feet and she stepped towards him.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm fine. He's just angry because I know his weak spot."

"Damn you!" Soul Stealer growled as he crossed blades with Tamiki who met him blow for blow. "How is it you can keep up with me?" he demanded.

"I'm Tamiki of the Buki clan." He replied as he kept advancing forcing the scythe wielder back. "We're masters of weaponry."

Soul Stealer grunted and leapt backwards. "That explains why she was able to master every weapon I threw at her." He muttered. "She still chose to use that curved sword of hers instead." He formed hand signs and blew a fireball at the amethyst eyed ninja. Tamiki's brow furrowed and he slashed his swords through the air slicing through the fire and sending the blasts away from his body.

Tamiki snickered. "A true Buki through and through." He replied.

"What are you talking about?" Soul Stealer demanded.

"Nothing that concerns you." Tamiki replied.

"Let's finish this quickly." Gaara said "Our friends need us."

Onchou nodded and shifted into a defensive position. "How do you want to do this?" she asked.

"We'll each trade off until he's defeated." He replied.

"Very well. Who do you want to go first?" she asked.

"I will. Be on guard." He replied.

She nodded and the sand wielder swiped his hands across the air. The sand around him responded and whipped around the man as it slowly built up around his feet immobilizing him.

Soul Stealer hissed in irritation and swiped his scythe through the air sending fire into the swirling wind.

"Gaara! Look out!" she exclaimed as she read the scythe master's intentions.

He reflected the flames back at the sand wielder but Onchou arrived first and sliced through the flames before throwing herself at the scythe wielder knocking him to the ground. He swiped the weapon at her but she leapt and landed on the flat part of the blade and lunched forward with her own sword stabbing him in the shoulder before she flipped away from him.

Soul Stealer cried out in pain and glared at her. "You protected him! Why?"

"My body moved on its own." She replied. "I couldn't help myself."

His eyes widened and then blazed as fire erupted around him. "I see how it is." He murmured. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him!" he roared. "I should be me!"

"That's not your choice to make." Tamiki replied crossing his swords.

"Damn you all!" Soul Sealer screeched as the flames began to take the shape of a dragon.

"Oh no." Onchou whimpered. "This isn't good. We can't fight him like this! He'll burn the whole place down!"

"Not so." Gaara said his chakra flaring as sand poured from his gourd and mixed with the sand around him.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's true that throwing water on a fire is the best way to put out the flame. However in the desert where water is a precious resource we've found another method that's just as effective." He replied.

"What do you mean?" Onchou asked.

Tamiki smirked. "Smother it with sand."

Sai, Ino and Chouji swept through the air towards TenTen and her group. "We need to help TenTen quickly and then go to Temari's aid." The painter said.

"Right!" Ino said as she watched the different battles raging from her ink bird. She sighed as she watched Onchou protecting Gaara from Dolls trying to interfere as the sand wielder continued to bury Soul Stealer in sand.

"Is something wrong?" Sai asked as they descended to where TenTen and Lee were holding off Dolls as Kankuro dueled with Blood Rain.

"I'll tell you later." She replied as she leapt from the bird and landed next to TenTen. "TenTen! Here! Let me help you!" she exclaimed reaching for the injured kunoichi.

The brown haired girl smiled and gave a sigh of relief as she fell into her comrade's arms. Chouji dropped down beside them and glared at the Dolls. "Hurry and take care of her. I've got your backs." He said as he formed hand signs. "Expansion Jutus!" he exclaimed. "Human Boulder!" he yelled as he bowled through the Doll in front of them.

"Here! Let me see!" Ino demanded. She frowned at the cuts and quickly went to work healing the injuries. After a few minutes TenTen pushed her hands away.

"That's enough for now." She said. "Just bandage me up. There are others that need you too." The weapon master smiled at her. "Thank you Ino."

The blonde nodded as she quickly bandaged her friend up and then stood. "Chouji! TenTen's good now! Let's get going!"

"You got it!" he responded as he knocked out another Doll with his massive hand and then used that same hand to toss her up to where Sai was waiting on an ink bird and followed himself.

Ino turned as she watched TenTen trade out Kankuro launching a series of paper bomb attacks at the man. She felt a swelling of both pride and jealously at her friend's combat skills as they flew towards where Shikamaru and Temari were fighting Nightmare. She frowned as she looked at the blonde sand shinobi who was clearly struggling as Shikamaru tried to fend off both the flying demon of a man and the Dolls with him. She dropped to the ground beside him with Sai and Chouji and immediately went to the fan wielder's side.

"Here let me help you." She said reaching for her.

"I'm fine. Go help the others." The sand shinobi replied.

"Stop being so stubborn!" Shimaru growled. "Let her treat you!"

The green eyed woman blinked in surprise at his sharp tone and then nodded. "Ok." She muttered.

The long haired blonde went to work healing the deep gashes on her ally's back and winced as she saw how deep they were.

"You've been fighting like this?" she asked her eyes wide.

Temari chuckled. "Of course. It's not like I had a choice. I wasn't about to let myself become a burden."

"I see." Ino replied as she focused her chakra. She frowned a little as she felt her chakra level dip.

The fan wielder noticed and put a hand on Ino's hand to still her. "That's enough." She said as she pulled bandages out for her.

"Are you sure? I can keep going." Ino assured her.

"Of course." Temari replied glancing at where Shikimaru stood his brow creased in concentration as he froze nightmare in midflight. Sai quickly took advantage of the situation and leapt onto his back and used his shot sword to slice the wings from Nightmare's back. "That boyfriend of yours is really good." The fan wielder noted.

"Yeah… yeah he is." Ino replied.

Sai grunted as Nightmare screamed and flailed in pain slashing the painter's leg. He landed lithely on the ground and hissed in pain as blood seeped from the wound.

"Sai!" Ino cried out sprinting to his side. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine." He muttered sweat beading on his forehead.

"Thank for the save you two." Shikimaru said as he kept Nightmare paralyzed. "Would you mind leaving Chouji here? We could use the back up."

"That's fine." Sai said drawing an ink bird. "We'll keep helping the other teams.

"I owe you." The shadow shinobi said with a nod. His eyes met Ino's. "Thank you for helping Temari."

She nodded and hopped on the bird with Sai and immediately went to work healing the gash in his leg feeling another pang of jealousy as she watched Temari attack Nightmare.

"What's wrong?" Sai asked as the bird glided across the sky over where Sakura was tending to Kiba and Akamaru as Sasuke battled Heart Taker.

"I just feel a bit… Inferior." She admitted. "All of the girls here are powerful and strong. They're able to fight alongside their male partners instead of just being protected by them." She said watching as Hinata's fists glowing with blue lions around them flew at blinding speed destroying Wraith's clones. "All I can do are little things. I mean, I remember when Sakura and I were equals and now look at her go." She muttered.

Sai sat up and wrapped bandages around his now healed leg and chuckled. "You sound just like her." He replied.

"Like Sakura?" she clarified.

He nodded. "She said the same thing after Naruto battle Orochimaru. She felt bad that all she could for him was little things. Then Captain Yamato told her something that helped her. I think it'll help you too." He said looking at his girlfriend. "He said. 'It doesn't matter whether the things you do for him are great or small. What matters is how much you care, really care about Naruto.'" He said grabbing her hand. "As long as you care and do the best you can, you're making a difference."

Ino blinked and then smiled. "Thanks Sai. I needed that." She then frowned. "Just don't tell Sakura!"

"Ok. I won't." he replied raising his hands. "Let's see who else needs our help shall we?"

"Yeah." She said with a smile. "Let's do that."

P.S. This chapter was a little shorter but that only because if I'd continued it, I wouldn't have found a good stopping point for a while and it would've been super long. Anyway, thanks for the continued support!


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Notes:** Thank you again for all the love and support. The next few chapters are going to get a bit OC centric as we approach the climax of the story but like I said I'm going to do my best to balance things out. I had a reviewer note that Sasuke and Naruto aren't excelling in battle as much as they can. I have a couple reasons for that. For starters they're both people who don't like to flaunt their power. Naruto because he wants to make people feel more comfortable around him and Sasuke because he's still on the road to redemption and is trying to prove that he's not a bad guy anymore. In addition, they're both smart ninja who aren't going to waste unnecessary power. Just because Sasuke could summon Susan-O and Naruto could unleash Kurama and end everything in one shot doesn't mean they're going to. Battles are also the best place to learn about your enemy's plans especially if you let them think they have the upper hand. That's just my personal opinion on the matter and why I'm writing it the way that I am. They will pull out their big guns during this story but not until the final battle. Anyway, let's get on with the story.

#*#

Temari smirked at the wingless Nightmare in front of her. "It's our turn to tear you apart." She remarked raising her fan.

Shikamaru smirked. "Good to have you back." He said as he held the man in place with his jutsu.

She nodded and a battle cry left her lips and wind blades flew from her fan tearing the man apart.

"How could I be defeated by a woman?" Nightmare rasped.

"You underestimated me." She replied simply leaning against her fan. The man groaned in response and then moved no more.

"Alright tough girl." Shikamaru said reaching out to her. "Lean on me. We need to get out of here and to a place where we can really take care of those wounds of yours." He said pulling her arm over his shoulders.

"Yeah. You're right." She said leaning her head on his shoulder. "I actually don't feel all that great right now." She admitted.

He smiled. Temari was one of the toughest girls he'd ever met but she only showed this soft side to him. It was further proof of her trust in him and he treasured it.

"Should we head back the way we came?" Chouji asked as his body returned to normal after defeating another handful of Dolls.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah. If we see anyone else who needs help along the way, we'll stop and give them a hand."

"Right." Chouji replied and together they leapt to the roofs.

% %

Naruto cried out as he threw a rasenshuriken at Wraith. The man gasped as the jutsu took effect destroying his body and clones plaguing his teammates vanishing as he sustained more and more damage.

"You defeated me." The bandaged man rasped before he fell to the ground dead.

"Naruto!" Hinata cried out running to his arms. "You did it!"

He chuckled and patted her head. "I couldn't have done it without you." He said smiling down at her. When he heard the sound of a throat clearing he sighed. "Or you Shino." He said looking at the bug user. "Thanks for helping out."

"Of course." Shino said. "We are a team and defeated him as a team. It doesn't matter who dealt the final blow."

"He's pouting." Hinata whispered in Naruto's ear.

"Yeah… I know." The Uzamaki replied. He knelt down and pulled bandages from his pack reaching for Hinata's leg. "I'll wrap this up for you."

"Oh you don't need to." Hinata replied. "It's not even bad enough for me to need to use my medical ninjutsu on." She said blushing.

"Please let me." Naruto replied. "I want to. I wasn't able to prevent it but I can help make it better right?"

The blue haired girl saw the genuine care and love in his eyes and nodded.

With gentleness the normally wild and energetic, blonde boy rarely showed, he gently wrapped the skinned knee and then pressed a kiss lightly to the white wrappings. "Naruto." Hinata murmured.

He stood up and grinned at her. "Come on! Let's get out of here. The others are probably finishing up too."

She nodded and the three up them took to the roof tops just as Shikamaru appeared still supporting Temari with Chouji.

"So you guys are finished too?" The shadow wielder asked.

"Yeah." Naruto replied. "Just finished him off. He did say something at the end."

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked moving to Temari's side.

"I'll be fine. I just took a couple of hits to the back." She replied.

"What did I say about acting tough?" Shikamaru scolded. "She actually needs some more medical attention as soon as possible." He replied. "We're heading out to see if we can help the others finish up."

Naruto nodded. "I'll go ahead with you and Chouji. We'll have Hinata stay with Temari and Shino and follow at a slower pace."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Shikamaru said shifting the blond from his hold to Hinata's. "Take good care of them Shino." He said.

"Of course I will. You don't have to tell me that. I will protect them using whatever means necessary." The bug user replied.

"Alright. Let's move out then." Naruto said leaping towards the other battles as Shino, Hinata and Temari followed behind.

Sakura cried out as Heart Taker dodged one of her punches and grabbed her instead turning and slamming her against the wall. He grinned and shoved a blade into her stomach and turned it.

"Aren't so tough are you little girl?" he rasped in her ear before he bit it making her stomach turn. "I love that look of pain of your face. It really turns me on." He murmured.

"You're a sick, twisted lunatic." She rasped as blood dribbled down her chin.

"Yes, but you're the one dying." He replied.

"Something like that won't kill her." Sasuke replied from behind them.

The man whirled around and then gasped as he became trapped in Sasuke's genjutsu. Sakura sank to the floor and using the skill she'd learned from Lady Chiyo she pulled the blade from her body while simultaneously healing her body.

Kiba knelt beside her his brow creased with worry as Akamaru fought off the Dolls nearby. "Are you ok Sakura? Can I help you at all?" he asked.

"I'll be fine." She replied as she gritted her teeth. "Just like Sasuke said, something like this won't kill me. Are you alright? You still look a little pale. I should've broken that genjutsu on you sooer."

The dog user's eyes narrowed. "That jerk. He doesn't even care." He muttered as he glanced at the Unchiha who drew his katana and attacked Heart Taker who barely deflected the blow but still took a serious hit in the process. "I'm fine." He replied rubbing the back of his head as he briefly remembered the awful illusions.

"No! Don't hurt her!" he'd screamed as Heart Taker grabbed the pink haired ninja by the throat and slammed her up against the wall.

"Why do you care? She doesn't belong to you." Heart Taker replied as his hand rubbed over the medic's body slipping under her shirt. Sakura whimpered at the action and turned her face away even as the blond man laid his lips on her neck.

"Bastard!" Kiba growled. "I don't care about that! Let her go!"

"All you have to do is die and her suffering will be over." Heart Taker said as he took a kunai from the pouch on his waist and slipped it up slicing away the girl's shirt. Cutting both fabric and flesh as we went. Crimson blood running down her body and staining the ground red.

"Please! Stop!" Kiba begged as Sakura cried out in protest tears streaming down her cheeks. "Sakura!"

Thankfully the medic had pushed her own chakra into his body then and broken the awful jutsu but he was sure the images would haunt him forever. He shook his head willing the images to disappear and focused on the real Sakura in front of him.

"Sasuke cares." She replied as she pulled the blade the rest of the way free with a grunt of pain and pressed her hand against the spot leaning her head back against the wall. "I know it doesn't look like it, but he's purposely dragging this out so I have time to heal myself and he knows you're here to look after me."

Kiba frowned. "Why not use your seal?" he asked. "Wouldn't it be faster that way?"

She nodded. "It would but releasing that seal speeds up cellular division by an astounding rate."

"What does that mean exactly?" he asked.

Sakura sighed as she finished up and stood. "It means releasing the seal shortens my lifespan." She replied.

The dog trainer's eyes widened. "I had no idea." He murmured. "Why put yourself at risk like that?"

She shrugged. "I knew the risks when I first started accumulating chakra six years ago." She said pulling her gloves on. "Now let's finish this!"

Kiba smirked in response. "Right! Akamaru!" he called out. The dog joined him at his side. "Let's do this!" he exclaimed. "Man beast clone!" he exclaimed. He and Akamaru got into formation and stared down their opponent. "Fang over fang!" he exclaimed. He and his partner slammed into Heart Taker smashing him to the ground. The pair quickly leapt out of the crater as the pink haired medic prepared to attack.

Sakura leapt in after him her fist blazing. "Cha!" she cried out as she slammed her fist into his stomach. "Hurts doesn't it? You bastard!" she hissed as blood burst from his mouth. She leapt backwards out of the crater as Sasuke leapt in and hovered over the man his hand electrified.

He slammed his chidori through the man's chest and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "You were a fool to mistake my apparent calm for indifference." He pulled his hand from the man's chest and left the crater. We quickly walked over to Sakura's side. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You didn't release the seal did you?"

"No I didn't. I'm fine." She said with an easy smile. "I just won't be doing any sit ups for a week or two."

"We should get going." Kiba said. "The others might need our help."

"Who's still engaged in battle?" Sasuke asked over his radio as he, Sakura, and Kiba took to the rooftops.

"I think it's just Gaara and his team if you guys are finished." Shikamaru replied. "I've got Naruto and Chouji with me. Hinata, Temari and Shino are behind us. Temari took a pretty serious hit so they're pretty slow."

"How serious?" Sakura replied.

"Ino healed her so she's out of the woods. She could use a little more TLC though." Chouji replied.

"Alright. I'll take a look at her when we regroup." The pink haired medic replied.

"Says the girl who just took a kunai to the gut." Kiba muttered shaking his head a little smile on his lips.

"Curse you!" Soul Stealer growled as Gaara's sand continued to bury him.

"The others are finished." Onchou said. "It seems Temari still needs some medical attention though."

"All the more reason to end this quickly." Gaara replied.

Soul Stealer's eyes widened and he yelled as he released a blast of pure chakra blasting away a large portion of the sand. He raised his scythe to strike the sand wielder. Onchou moved putting herself between the two and slipped her foot under the handle of his scytch and kicked as hard as she could. It slipped out of his hands and his eyes widened even as he slammed into a wall of sand created by Gaara's ultimate defense. He bounced back onto the ground and gasped as he found his own weapon at his throat.

"What? How?" He gasped.

"Weren't you the one that taught me the most humiliating thing for an enemy to experience is defeat by his own weapon Sensei?" she asked as the blade bit into the flesh of his neck.

Soul Stealer blinked and then chuckled. "You're right. Well done my student." He said before he released the tension in his body and allowed himself to fall on his own blade.

Onchou's eyes widened in response and she staggered away. "What the Hell was that!?" she demanded her hands trembling. "Why would he do that?!"

"He wanted to die by your hands." Tamiki replied walking up to her.

"Why?" she whimpered.

"I don't know." He admitted touching her on the shoulder. "Regardless, it's over now."

"We should meet up with the others." Gaara said moving forward. "We've defeated Soul Stealer." He said into his radio.

"Well that makes everyone." Naruto replied. "The places is still crawling with Dolls but I'm sure we'll be able to find a safe place to meet."

"Where we are is pretty clear." Tamiki said. "We can just regroup here."

"Good idea. We're nearly there anyway." Naruto replied.

"How do you know that?" Gaara asked.

"I'm still in sage mode." The Uzamaki replied.

"Another skill I have not mastered." The sand wielder replied.

Onchou shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Given the range and size of your jutsu, I don't think it's a necessity for you." She said with a smile. A thought suddenly came to her. "Gaara, do you have a summons?" she asked.

He glanced at her and shook his head. "I do not." He replied.

She blinked in surprise. "That's a surprise." She admitted. "Have you ever wanted one?"

"It never really crossed my mind." He admitted.

The violet haired girl touched her hand to her chin. "I wonder what animal would be best for you?" she wondered aloud.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked as he dropped down beside the group.

"I was just wondering what type of animal would be Gaara's summons if he had one." Onchou replied. "I'm a beast tamer so it's just one of those things I think about that others probably don't." she said.

Naruto thought for a moment and then snickered. "I've got it! How about a giant raccoon? Those suckers can be pretty vicious with the right motivation."

Kankuro and TenTen snorted while Sakura concealed her giggles behind her hand. Gaara's dark ringed eye twitched as Temari and Onchou meet one another's gaze and grinned.

"No way. I think a scorpion or a gila monster would suit him better." Kiba said as he leaned against Akamaru. "It would totally suit him."

Gaara sighed as Sakura moved to heal Temari's back. "I wouldn't say all animals suit their master's looks or temperaments." TenTen argued as Hinata began to work on her wounds. "I mean look at Sakura. Slugs? Although there are some summons that hit the nail on the head." She mused touching her chin. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the weapon wielding girl his gaze cold as ice. TenTen noticed and shivered a little.

"So what's your summons?" Tamiki asked Onchou. "Is it a big cat like your mother's?"

The violet haired girl blinked in surprise and then chuckled nervously. "No, actually. I wish it was though. Yukki was beautiful." She murmured thinking of her mother's beloved Black Panther.

"Then what is it?" Chouji asked.

"You probably wouldn't believe you even if I told you." She replied.

"Come on!" TenTen urged. "What can be more unbelievable than Naruto's giant toads?"

The amethyst eyed girl chuckled and then sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. My summons is actually-" her eyes suddenly widened and the color drained from her face. "No… why is he here." She whimpered. "Why couldn't I hear him sooner?"

"269's summons is easily one of the fiercest creatures to ever enter this world." A silky smooth voice said from behind the group. "A creature thought only to exist in stories. A winged dragon."

"It's him." Sasuke said straightening from where he had been leaning against a wall. "Takuma."

The Shinobi immediately shifted to form a loose semicircle with Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto, Tamiki, and Sakura in the front while the rest hung back with Onchou nestled protectively in the middle.

The blond haired, blue eyed scientist grinned at the group of shinobi. He wore loose fitting black pants with bandages wrapped around his lower calves. A grey belted tunic covered his top half with a sleeveless red coat over the top of that. He was a little taller than average with a slight build and his hands rested in the pockets of his coat as he surveyed the ninja in front of him before his eyes fell on Onchou.

"What a good girl you are coming to me on your own like this." He murmured. "It saves me the trouble of having to send my forces in to destroy that wretched Village Hidden in the Sand. Though I wish you hadn't killed off my five top generals in the process." He admitted looking at the body of Soul Stealer. "No matter. There's always more where those came from."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Sick bastard." He hissed. "He doesn't give a damn about human life."

Takuma shrugged. "Generally speaking that's correct except for when it comes to this girl. She's worth more than the average bag of flesh and bones I usually deal with so I'd appreciate it if you'd return her to me."

"Like Hell we will!" Naruto growled. "She's staying with us!"

The blond haired scientist sighed. "So troublesome." He muttered. "I'm just taking back what belongs to me." He replied he slashed his finger through the air and a blade of wind chakra tore the sleeve from her arm revealing the number 269 branded on her arm. "See?"

"That mark means nothing." Gaara replied. "Onchou is free to do as she pleases."

Takuma glanced at the Kazekage and his eyes narrowed. "Gaara of the Desert I presume?" he said softly. "The fifth Kazakage and youngest son of the fourth. The former host of the one-tail's."

"Why do you know so much about Gaara?" Kankuro asked his brow furrowing slightly.

"I make it a point to learn everything I can about the people in this world I hate most." Takuma replied glaring at the red head. "I hate your father with a passion you cannot even fathom Kankuro, eldest son of Rasa." He clenched his fist. "It was his damn interference that ruined everything!" he growled. His eyes flashed dangerously as his eyes found Onchou's. "If you do not come to my side at once I will kill every person here." He threatened his chakra flaring his fingers twitching dangerously. "Do I make myself clear?!"

The violet haired girl trembled and began to take a step forward. "Don't listen to him." Sakura said glancing back at her. "We won't let him take you."

"Very well then." Takuma said. "I'll take you back by force!" he yelled slamming his fist into the ground. The earth bucked and swayed beneath his fist feet tossing several member of the group back blinding the rest with sand.

Saskue activated his advanced eyesight and spotted Sakura flying through the air. He leapt and caught her easily and landed on the ground. "Thanks." She said as she landed. "This guy is going to be a pain to beat." She muttered.

The Uchiha nodded. "His chakra levels are pretty substantial." He admitted.

Takuma formed more hand signs and a group of shadow clones materialized around him accompanied by a group of Dolls. "Bring her to me!" he demanded.

The clones and Dolls nodded and charged towards Onchou who blinked struggling to move out of fear.

"Oh Hell no!" Temari hissed slashing her fan across the air as Shikamaru impaled other clones with his shadows.

"You're not taking her anywhere!" TenTen yelled unleashing a wave of shuriken.

"Severe Leaf Hurricane!" Lee exclaimed slamming his feet into another clone reducing it to smoke.

Kankuro maneuvered his puppet forward taking on several clones destroying them quickly.

Sasuke drew his katana as Sakura pulled on her gloves again. "So troublesome." He muttered.

"Watch it. We used to say the same thing about you." Sakura replied with an affectionate shove before she slammed her fist into a Doll.

Tamiki and Gaara stayed close to Onchou as the Dolls and clones approached. The older shinobi moved first slashing through his opponents with ease a dark look on his face.

"I recognize you from somewhere." Takuma said softly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Tamiki Buki." The man replied.

Takuma's eyes widened briefly before he began to laugh. "The scum from Suna who tainted my precious Aria all those years ago. She cried out for you to save her when I killed her you know. Too bad you were busy running errands for your precious Kazekage."

"Shut your mouth!" Tamiki hissed slashing his swords through the air lightning flying from his blades.

"So that's where she gets it from. I was wondering why she had such a natural talent for lightning when her mother was a wind chakra user." Takuma mused touching his chin. "Well, no matter." He formed signs and slashed his arm through the air. Onchou gasped in surprise as he aimed a series of air blades at the group. Gaara moved to stand protectively in front of her as his sand defense activated shielding both of them from harm as Tamiki slashed through the ones near him.

"Why are you protecting her?" Takuma demanded. "That girl is nothing more than a weapon in human form. Sure she's a pretty looking one, but still just a weapon. Do you want to keep her in the Sand now that the Leaf is the only village left with the power of tailed beasts in this world? Or do you intend to share her? You'll use her to take over the world like I intend to won't you?"

"Shut up already!" Naruto exclaimed as he destroyed a Doll with a rasengan. "She's our friend! That's all the reason we need!"

Takuma studied the girl who moved closer to the Kazekage her hands reaching out tentatively towards his back. The sand wielder seemed to sense her proximity and shifted back slightly so that she was touching him.

"Don't worry. I will protect you." He assured her quietly.

She nodded and laid her head against his back and the mad scientist in front of them glared at the scene his hands clenching and unclenching.

"Damn you!" he hissed. "You'll pay for this." He growled. "That girl belongs to me!"

His hands formed signs and he pressed his hands forward. "Water Style! Black Dragon Jutsu!" he exclaimed.

"Oh no!" Onchou exclaimed as the dragon whipped towards them even as Tamiki pulled her back. "Gaara! Get away!" she screamed.

"He'll be fine. It'll take more water than that to kill him." Naruto assured him.

"No! You don't understand!" she yelled. "Didn't you hear what he said?!" her eyes widened as the water hit the Kazekage wetting the sand that surrounded him. "Don't let it touch you! Gaara!" she screamed.

The sand wielder's eyes widened and he shuddered his body jerking as his muscles clenched and unclenched sporadically as they tried to adjust to the increased flow of chakra. His finger nails elongated turning becoming black claws and the red vanished from his hair becoming stark white instead.

"What's happening to him!?" Kankuro demanded. "Gaara!"

"Damn it!" Onchou snarled. "That wasn't ordinary water. It was laced with black water. His sand is part of him and infused with his chakra so it's entering his body." Her body trembled. "He already possesses so much chakra. The black water will kill him and he'll probably wipe out most of the village as well." She whimpered as the Kazekage coughed the skin of his face cracking as the chakra inside him raged out of control. He struggled to gain control of his body and lifted himself and his sand into the sky as the sand around them whipped out of control.

"What do we do?" Temari asked.

"The only one that's survived being poisoned by that is 269." Takuma said with a smirk. "He'll die. There's no way around it."

Onchou growled at him and extended her arm. Her fingers flexed and bright lightning shot from her hand and hit him square in the chest knocking him back several yards. She raked her hands through her hair. "There's got to be a way!" She muttered. Her eyes widened and she looked at Sakura. "Were you able to make the vaccine you were working on?" she asked.

The pink haired medic nodded and pulled a syringe from her pouch. "Yes but I'm not sure how effective it will be." She admitted. "It was only able to work on the blood samples I took from you after you released the excess chakra."

The violet haired girl nodded. "That'll be enough I think." She glanced up at the Gaara who was writhing in the air above them as he desperately tried to get control of his power. She took the syringe from her friend and closed her eyes focusing her chakra. Her ears shifted from black, to silver, and then to gold before she opened her eyes again. "Throw me." She said to the pink haired medic.

"You can't be serious." Sakura replied. "Even if you make it in there's no way you'll be able to survive the blast when that excess chakra is released. Just wait until he releases it and we'll inject him then."

"That won't work." Onchou replied. "His chakra network isn't as flexible as mine is. It'll be destroyed the moment it's released and he'll never be able to wield his power again if he even survives."

Kankuro and Temari's eyes widened. "No. That can't happen." Temari whimpered.

"Exactly! Just throw me!" she barked at the medic. "I think I can save him, so please!"

Sakura looked the girl in the eyes and was surprised at what she saw there. It was similar to what was in her own eyes short years ago when she'd made up her mind to try to kill Sasuke even if it meant she'd die in the process. There was no way the girl could be talked out of it now. With a sigh she nodded. "Ok. I'll do it."

"Thank you." Onchou said closing her eyes again as she focused her chakra pulling all of the lightning she could from her extremities focusing it in her core. "I'll save him, even if it kills me." She muttered under her breath through clenched teeth.

The pink haired medic smirked at her words as she grabbed the girl by her vest and belt and swung at the girl around twice before letting her go a battle cry falling from her lips as she did. She watched the girl fly through the air with the syringe in her hand. As she flew there was a sudden flash of light and she was gone even as Gaara's defense activated sealing them both inside the ball of sand.

"Did she make it!?" Naruto demanded walking up to the pink haired girl. Sakura nodded and kept her eyes trained on the ball even as sand swirled around them.

"Do you think she'll be able to save him?" Sasuke asked from her opposite side.

She nodded. "I do."

"How can you be sure?" Kankuro asked.

"She had the same look in her eyes I did not long ago." She replied. "She'll do everything in her power to save him even if that means dying in the process."

"How ridiculous is that?" Sasuke muttered. "If they both die, what's the point?"

"It doesn't matter." Sakura replied. "She'd made up her mind. There was nothing any of could've said that would've changed it. However I have faith she'll be able to pull it off."

Onchou breathed a sigh of relief as she found herself inside the ball of sand. "Thank goodness it worked." She murmured.

"What are you doing?" Gaara demanded as he shook curled up in a ball near her. "It's dangerous to be close to me right now. This water is bringing out a part of me I thought I'd defeated long ago." He hissed. "I just want to kill everything."

"That's black water for you." She muttered. "It brings out the homicidal tendencies in everyone."

"Stay back." He hissed. "I'll kill you."

"Good luck doing that in here." She said shifting towards him.

He launched forward wrapping his hands around her throat. "As you were saying?" he hissed as his hands tightened.

Onchou simply smiled and plunged the needle into his arm. He grunted and released her as the medicine went to work forcing the black water from his system.

"Gaara, listen to me." The violet haired girl said. "You need to focus all of that tainted chakra and release it at once. Can you do that?"

He nodded and wrapped his arms around himself cracks appearing on the skin of his hands as he focused. A cry tore from his throat as a blast of chakra flew from his body creating a hole in the ball for a brief moment before it was covered up again. He slumped unconscious against the wall and the ball began to crumble. The color returned to his hair and his hands returned to normal as his breathing became ragged.

The violet haired girl scrambled forward her heart skipping a beat when she realized his chakra was nearly gone, his heart rate slowing as the cracks in his skin deepened. "Oh no you don't!" she hissed her hands glowing green. "Don't you dare die on me!" Her eyes widened as she found his body unable to accept her healing. "No! No!" she exclaimed. "Not again!" she wracked her brain for a solution and looked down at him as her only option came to mind as the sand continued to crumble around them. She took a deep breath and pulled his limp body into her arms. "Forgive me Gaara." She said softly. "You can hate me if you want after this. I don't care, as long as you're alive." Her eyes closed and she laid her forehead on his as they began to plummet towards the ground.

"With this sacred jutsu passed down from the divine, I tightly bind your soul to mine." She murmured. "What's mine is yours and what's your is mine. Power, strength, light and life. Linked forever your soul and mine. Soul Link Jutsu!" Her grip on him tightened as the jutsu took effect surrounding them both in a silver glow and her chakra poured into his body with ease repairing the damage left by the vile poison dragging him back from the brink of death. 'It is done.' She thought to herself as she felt the sensation she'd only felt once before overcoming her. 'What happens after this is up to him. He'll live and that's all that matters.' And with that she fell into a world that wasn't her own. The world of Gaara's past.

%*%

Sakura watched helplessly as a blast of yellow and red energy burst from the ball of sand, rose into the air and exploded.

"What the hell was that?" Kankuro demanded anxiously.

"He released the excess chakra created by the Black Water." Sakura replied a little sigh escaping her lips. "That means the vaccine worked."

"Yeah, but did he survive the purge?" Sasuke murmured. He frowned as chunks of sand began to fall from the sky. "That's not a good sign." He said focusing on the two chakra signatures. "He's fading."

"Are you serious!?" Temari gasped. "No. Gaara!" she cried out. "What do we do?"

"Hope and pray that Onchou has a miracle stuffed up her sleeves." Shikamaru said placing his hand on Temari's shoulder.

The ball plummeted from the sky and the shinobi below held their breath.

"Hinata! Tell us what's going on up there." Naruto exclaimed gritting his teeth.

"Right!" she replied activating her eye power. "I'm not sure what's going on." She admitted. "It looks like Onchou is just holding him. Give me a second." She focused further and Gaara's chakra network became clear to her while Onchou's stayed clouded except for the one point in her forehead. "Something is distorting my vision so I can't say for sure but it looks like she's pouring her own chakra into his body. It's happening at a rate that I've never seen before. She's not using healing jutsu though."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Healing jutsu is limited as you know." Hinata replied. "It can't repair a person's chakra network."

The pink haired medic nodded. "Yes. When it's damaged there's nothing we can do. It's up to that person's own strength to put their chakra network back together."

The blue haired girl nodded. "Exactly. Gaara's network has been heavily damaged but somehow she's repairing it."

"How is that possible?" Sasuke murmured.

"I don't know but I'm pretty sure she's not going to be able to keep doing that and save them from hitting the ground at the same time." Naruto said as he formed hand signs, bit his thumb and slammed his hand to the ground. "Summoning jutsu!" he exclaimed.

A giant yellow toad with orange markings around the eyes and mouth appeared. "Hello Naruto!" Gamatasu croaked. "How can I help you?"

"Help me catch them!" Naruto exclaimed jumping onto the toad's head.

"Right." He replied leaping towards the pair that were hurling towards the ground at breakneck speed. They landed on the massive toad's head who grunted a little at the impact. "That hurt." He muttered.

"Sorry about that." Naruto replied. "I'll make it up to you later." He said shifting to kneel beside his fallen friends. He pressed his fingers against Gaara's throat, wrinkling his nose a little as his skin cracked at the motion breathing a sigh of relief when he felt a steady pulse under his fingertips. He then repeated the motion with Onchou and sighed again as he felt her heartbeat though it was a little weaker than the Kazekage's. He shook his head at the pair and his gaze fell on Gaara. "And you call me a reckless idiot." He muttered. "What the hell would you call what you just did huh?" He yelped as a series of wind blades hurled at him and scrambled do the edge of Gamatasu's head glancing down to see who his assailant was. His eyes widened as he saw Temari glaring at him while Shikamaru held her back and Kankuro tried to wrestle her fan away from her. He cringed and waved down to her and cupped his hands around his mouth. "They're both alive!" he called down to them. "But I think they're going to be out of it for a while!"

"Just use your radio stupid Naruto." Sakura's voice came in his ear.

"Oh. Right." He muttered touching the mic. "They're both alive but I think they're going to be out of it for a while. Sakura, Ino, or Hinata should probably take a look at them too. We need to get out of Heiwa so they can recover somewhere safer."

"Good call." Shikamaru said. "We'll send Hinata with you. The toad of yours can clear that hellish stretch of desert in a single leap can't he?"

"Probably." He replied as Hinata leaped from a nearby rooftop to stand by his side. "Even if he can't, he'll just eat the bugs that pop out of the sand."

"Ok then. Head to that oasis we passed on our way here yesterday." Shikamaru instructed. "We'll chakra board back over as fast as we can."

"Sounds like a plan. What about that Takuma guy though?" he asked.

"He slipped away during all the commotion but we know his whereabouts and what he's planning. That was the point of this mission. It's been completed now so we'll head back to Suna and work on a counter attack there." He replied.

"Ok. We'll meet you at the Oasis." He said before he spoke to the giant toad. "I need you to jump from here to that tower." He said motioning the north tower. "Can you make it?"

"Of course Naruto!" Gamatasu exclaimed. "Will you get me snacks later?" he asked.

"Yes!" Naruto replied.

"Ok then!" the toad said crouching slightly.

"Help hold her down." Naruto said as he knelt down locking his arm across Gaara's body. "He's not as smooth of a jumper as Gamakichi."

"Right." Hinata said putting her arm across Onchou's waist.

The toad leapt across the desert and landed just on the other side of the north tower. "I did it!" the toad exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Yes you did." The Uzamaki replied with a smile. "Well done. Can you take us to that Oasis in the distance?"

"Sure Naruto but you better be ready to give me a whole heap of snacks for this." He replied.

"You can have two heaps." Naruto replied. "Just help me get my friends somewhere safe."

$%$

Sakura stepped onto her chakra board and glided side by side with Sasuke across the desert her brow furrowed in concentration. She couldn't imagine what kind of power or jutsu would allow Onchou to heal Gaara's chakra network but the medical part of her mind was desperate to get her hands on it.

"Is everything alright?" Sasuke asked after a few moments of silence.

She blinked in surprise and nodded. "Yeah. I'm just thinking." She replied.

"About what?" he asked.

"A lot of things." She replied.

He sighed. "Why did you throw her?" he asked after a few minutes.

Sakura smiled. "She had that look in her eye." She replied.

"What look?" Sasuke asked.

"It was the same look I had when I went after you intent on killing you." She replied. "Everyone told me to stop that I'd just end up regretting it or being killed in the process but I went anyway. Nothing anyone said was going to stop me. I even lied to Naruto to try to keep him from following me." She said glancing forward as she caught a glimpse of the blond ninja atop his giant summons. "I didn't care what happened to me. Even if I died it was ok as long as I was able to save you."

The Uchiha blinked in surprise and bowed his head slightly. "I seriously need to thank that blond idiot again." He muttered. "The person I was on that bridge…." He balled his hand into a fist. "He disgusts me. So drunk on power he couldn't even see how insane he was."

The pink haired medic smiled sadly at him. "Being manipulated by Madara will do that to a person." She replied. "Donzo was a creep too. I know he had the village's wellbeing at heart but still, going that far is just not acceptable."

Sasuke nodded. "That's true. I've noticed it in many of the lands I've traveled to. The ninja world is at a turning point. With leaders like Gaara and Kakashi who are not only open to forming alliances and sharing information but actually encouraging it, the elders in villages all over are defensive. They've been stuck in the world of secrets and isolation for so long they'll reluctant to let go and pass the torch to the next generation."

Sakura nodded. "It's true. When we came here to save Gaara years ago, the council of Elders in Suna refused to send teams to retrieve him. All they did was sent out stupid patrols to watch the boarders for an attack that never came. They didn't give a damn about their Kazekage who had been captured defending them as long as they had their own power."

"So you don't like them either?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Old vultures like them and Donzo who cling to power with an iron grip tick me off. In this world every single life is important. I mean if those of us in the leaf had given up on you and killed you at the first opportunity instead of trying to save you, the world would've ended."

He blinked and then shook his head. "You make it seem like I'm some sort of hero when I'm part of the reason the world ended up in such a dangerous predicament in the first place."

"You are a hero Sasuke." She replied with a smile. "In fact you're one of the best kind. The kind that gives people hope."

"Are you delusional?" he asked. "I nearly destroyed the world!"

"But you saved it." She replied with a smile. "I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but soon that's all people will remember. You'll be the story that grandmother's tell their sons and daughters when their teenagers go through the rebellious faze." She said with a wink.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I did take the angsty rebellious phase to a whole new level." He admitted.

"Yup, and Naruto was the most annoying little twerp as a child. You're really a perfect match for one another." She said.

The Uchiha frowned. "Don't say stuff like that."

"Why not?" she asked. "It's true."

"It just sounds really creepy." He muttered.

Sakura laughed. "You want to talk about creepy? Did you ever hear about what happened to Kakashi after that mission to save Gaara?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think so." He replied.

She smiled. "Well, he overused his sharingan while fighting Deidera and could barely walk." She explained. "Guy Sensei was helping him across the desert and TenTen was complaining about how slow they were going and you know how Guy Sensei is about stuff like that."

The Uchiha nodded and smirked. "I bet it was driving him crazy." He replied.

She snickered. "Exactly. He got so sick of it that without warning he eventually decided to carry Kakashi piggyback style."

Sasuke's jaw dropped as he imagined the scene. "No way!" he gasped. "That's just… wrong."

Sakura nodded. "You have no idea! It was so creepy! And then you know, Lee wanted to do it too so he tried to get Neji to climb on his back."

The Uchiha snorted. "Let me guess. Neji refused."

She nodded. "I believe his exact words were. 'Oh hell no!'" she said giggling at the disgusted expression on the now deceased shinobi's face at the request. "Guy literally ran with Kakashi on his back the entire way back to the village. Poor Kakashi was half dead by the time they made it back."

Sasuke grinned. "I wish I could've seen that." He admitted his face falling a little.

Sakura smiled and reached out to grab his hand. "If you spend more time with people and less time alone, things like that are bound to happen. Just don't be such a loaner." She replied. Squeezing his hand.

He nodded. "Right. I'll be sure to work on that."

They arrived at the Oasis and quickly set up a tent before moving the two fallen shinobi in to it. Sakura knelt beside the Kazekage her hand glowing green and went to work healing his physical injuries as best she could as Hinata worked on Onchou.

"Incredible." Sakura breathed.

"What is it?" Temari demanded kneeling down beside her fallen brother.

"His chakra network. It's being healed as we speak." She said glancing at Onchou. "Somehow she's repairing his network without even touching him but I can feel her chakra entering his body." She shook her head in awe and then glanced at Onchou. "How is she doing?" she asked her blue haired companion.

The lavender eyed girl sighed. "It's hard to say." She admitted. "From what I can tell, her chakra is very low and still depleting."

"Idiot!" Sakura hissed. "She's going to hurt herself if she gives him anymore."

"Like you're one to talk." Naruto said walking into the tent with Sasuke. "I remember a time not so long ago when you poured your chakra into me for three days straight."

She wrinkled her nose and blushed. "Quiet you." She muttered. "You got your girl back because of it right?"

"Exactly, so stop worrying. I'm sure she knows what she's doing." Naruto replied.

"How long do you think they're going to be out?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't know." Sakura admitted. She moved over to Onchou her hands glowing as she worked to analyze her condition a little frown touching her lips. "To be honest, I don't know why they haven't regained consciousness already." She moved her hand up to the girl's forehead and her frown deepened. "There aren't any brain injuries but her neurons are firing at an incredible rate." She moved her hand over to Gaara's forehead and her jaw clenched. "His are the same."

"What does that mean?" Temari asked.

Sakura touched her chin. "I'd say they're just having really vivid dreams but that's no quite right. Almost like a dream infused with chakra?"

"Genjutsu maybe?" Sasuke offered.

The pink haired medic shook her head. "If that were the case then it would've been broken when we started healing them. I really don't know." She looked down at them her eyes widening as a tear slipped down Onchou's cheek and Gaara's hand twitched balling into a fist. "We'll just have to wait and see."

&!&

P.S. Ok. This concludes the first contact with Takuma. The next chapter is an optional chapter that deals with the jutsu cast on Gaara and both of their pasts. If you don't want to read it, then don't. It's just an optional scene that focuses on those two with no SasukexSakura moments. It's written mostly to explain in depth Onchou's past and her connection with Gaara. Anyway thanks for the support.


	25. Chapter 24 part 2

"Where am I?" Gaara murmured as he walked across a field of white. He looked down at his clothes and was surprised to see he was wearing casual attire consisting of a white tunic, and white pants with a black belt tied loosely around his waist. His feet were bare and he could feel a warm breeze ruffle his hair. He suddenly sensed another presence and turned around searching for the source of the sensation. "Is someone there?" he called out.

His eyes widened as he spotted a young girl standing with her back to him. She wore a simple white dress that reached down to just above her ankles and violet haired flowed down to her shoulders. He took a step forward and the girl turned her head towards him her amethyst eyes studying him curiously before she smiled and pranced up to him.

"Onchou?" he murmured in disbelief as he took in her rounded cheeks and carefree smile.

She giggled in response and grabbed him by the hand pulling her with him towards what he recognized as the village of Heiwa. She stopped as they entered a building and he glanced back shocked to see that the white void was gone and had been replaced with the wall of a house.

"I'm home!" another smaller version of the girl exclaimed rushing into the room walking right through him as though he didn't exist.

"What is this?" he asked the girl dressed in white next to him.

"Shh!" the girl said pressing her finger to her lips. "Watch."

He blinked and nodded as the girl pranced into the room and threw herself into the arms of an older man with violet hair that was streaked with grey and bright green eyes wearing lose grey robes. "Hello there Onchou my sweet." He said gathering her into a hug. "How did your lessons go today?"

The little girl smiled. "I made it to the top of the south tower!" she exclaimed. "None of the others even made if halfway!"

The older man nodded and ruffled her hair. "That's my girl." He said with a grin. "Go wash up for supper now."

"Yes grandfather." She said sliding out of his lap and bowing before she dashed into the kitchen.

An older, severe looking woman with dark skin, ashy blonde hair and golden eyes walked into the room. "Don't you think you're being a little hard on her? She's only a child. She should be out playing with the other children her age not studying combat and ninja arts." the older man said glancing at the woman.

"She's not like the other children." The woman replied. "The seal on her chest is proof of that. She must learn to wield that power and quickly. We're more vulnerable than we've ever been before. You of all people should know that."

"Even so." The man said standing up. "What happened wasn't her fault."

The older woman snorted. "You're right. It's that mother of hers." She hissed "If she'd only taken her duty seriously this never would've happened. We'd never be stuck in this terrible predicament of having a wretched child to protect us!"

Onchou's eyes widened from where she stood in the doorway her body trembling. "I'm so sorry grandmother." She murmured bowing low. "I will go to my room." She said as tears fell from her eyes.

"Guardians never cry!" a young woman with tangled violet hair and wild golden eyes said walking out from one of the rooms. "Get that through your head!"

Onchou's eyes widened as she turned to look at the woman. "Mother." She murmured.

The woman shied away. "Don't look at me with his cursed eyes!" she screamed. "Get out of my sight!"

The little girl bowed her head and dashed from the room, her feet carrying her swiftly down the hall. She slid open another door and dashed inside slamming it shut behind her. She flung herself on the bed tears wetting her pillow as she clutched a plush doll to her chest. The door of her room opened and she recognized the person as her grandfather by his song. She quickly sat up and wiped her tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry grandfather. I will try to be better"

The man sat down the tray in his hands on the small table in her room. "Here. I thought you'd want your dinner." He said with a smile. She nodded still wiping at her eyes. He frowned and sat down next to her pulling her little body into his lap. "My dear sweet Onchou." He murmured as he smoothed a hand over her hair. "Please forgive them. Your grandmother is hurting because she wants you to be stronger than she was and your mother is suffering from a broken heart and a broken mind." He squeezed her gently. "Forgive us careless adults for laying such a heavy burden on your tiny shoulders."

She glanced up and noted the tears on his face and wiped them away. "It is ok grandfather. I will become strong so you don't have to cry."

Gaara's eyes widened at the scene and looked down at the girl in white still holding his hand. "This is Onchou's past." He murmured. "But how am I seeing this?"

The images flew past as he saw her train until she dropped at her grandmother's request, try to avoid her mother while she was awake but secretly sneaking into her room while she was sleeping to hold her hand. He watched as she watched the other children play longing to join them but unable to as her grandmother pushed her to become stronger, faster, and more powerful. It was clear her only rays of sunshine were her grandfather, chakra boarding, and the beasts she learned to tame.

Time passed and he found himself looking at a slightly older, lankier girl with violet hair that reached to her waist. She rode her chakra board across the desert twisting and turning as she raced a scorpion the size of a large dog across the desert.

"Thanks for the race Scorpio." She said with a smile as they approached the village. Suddenly, sentinels rose up from the desert and she yelped as the large scorpion beside her hissed guiding her through the mass of writhing creatures.

"What is going on?" she demanded activating her advanced hearing and immediately gasped as songs of death and the screams of villagers. She heard the rage and anguish of the beasts as they were forced to attack their masters. She cast her eyes forward shocked as she saw flames rising from the buildings.

"What is this?!" she demanded pushing herself forward across the desert. "What's happening!?"

She leapt from her board and scrambled up to the rooftops her eyes wide with horror as she watched people running and screaming as a man wielding a giant sword cackled cutting people down.

"Come Itachi! You're not enjoying yourself properly. Isn't this sort of thing right up your ally? You did destroy the Uchiha clan after all." the man asked as he killed a man with a blast of water chakra.

"Uchiha?" Onchou murmured as a young man dropped from a roof to stand by the gilled man throwing kunai at the villagers trying to escape.

"Let's just finish this quickly." The young man said. "We still have to capture the guardian."

Onchou's eyes widened and she started towards her home when she spotted one of the few children she'd ever played with, a girl name Nanami cowering in front of sword wielding man.

"No!" she screamed leaping from the roof drawing her father's sword from her back. She landed in front of the girl and blocked the massive sword as best she could. Her muscles strained at the effort and she could hear her bones beginning to crack and gritted her teeth as she reaching inside her drawing on the power inside of her.

"What's this?" Kisame said stumbling back as lightning burst from her blade.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

"We're just following orders." Kisame replied with a grin. "You have more fight in you than most of the men in this village."

"We should take care of her quickly then." Itachi replied grabbing her by the front of her shirt and dragging up to his level. She instinctively closed her eyes as his turned red.

She shivered and focused on his song her ears glowing as she focused on his song searching desperately for a weakness. "Sasuke." She murmured.

"What did you say?" the young man demanded his grip on her tightening.

"Sasuke." She replied. "You left him all alone after torturing him. What kind of big brother does that?"

"How does that girl know?" Kisame asked.

"Did you look at their faces as you killed them?" Onchou asked. "As you killed your parents, cousins, and friends."

"You will never understand." Itachi murmured "but how do you know?"

"I can hear everything." She murmured. "I can hear your soul. It's so loud." she opened her eyes and looked at him. "You hate yourself Itachi Uchiha." She reached up and touched his face. "I feel sorry for you but I feel more sorry for Sasuke."

His eyes glowed red and she gasped as she felt herself being pulled into a genjutsu. She gritted her teeth and started to sing casting her own.

"Your skill is quite impressive for your age." Itachi said from where he stood inside the white void she'd created to protect herself. "However you're no match for me."

She sighed. "If you're going to kill me just do it." She murmured.

"I'll spare you for now." Itachi said before he vanished and she sat alone in the void her legs close to her chest as she heard the screams around her.

"Onchou! Onchou!" a voice called pulling her from the void.

"Grandfather?" she murmured opening her eyes finding herself in the older man's arms. She glanced down and her eyes widened as she saw Nanami's shredded body on the ground. "Nanami?" she murmured her eyes filling with tears.

"I'm sorry." Her grandfather said leaving the body of the other girl. "We need to leave."

"No…" she murmured watching the carnage around her. "No!" she as her grandfather arrived near her mother and grandmother. Power exploded from her as she tried to block out the sounds of screams and songs of death. "Make it stop!" she screamed clamping her hands over her ears. "Make it STOP!"

Power exploded from her body and then everything went black. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the middle of the desert with her grandfather looking down on her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She groaned and sat up touching her temple. "Grandfather?" she murmured.

"You wretched girl!" her grandmother yelled slamming her across the face. "Our village is gone because of you!"

"I didn't know." She whimpered. "Please forgive me grandmother."

Gaara cringed as he watched the scene. It reminded him of how his father treated him. The man showed him no affection, just distain as a child.

The years passed as he watched her family roam from village to village seemingly nomadic but he soon sensed like she did that they were being pursued by something or someone. Then the day she'd once spoke of came and he watched helplessly as she found her strict grandmother and beloved grandfather dead and witnessed her mother's murder. His hands balled into fists as Takuma brought her to his underground hideout and branded her throwing her into the room that became her jail cell and began to experiment on and train her. Nearly two years past and Onchou had grown taller and Takuma took her and several other experiments to what the Kazekage recognized as The Land of Ogres.

"Do you remember the summoning jutsu I taught you?" Takuma asked the violet haired girl.

"I do." She replied.

"Good, now do it with me." He said.

She nodded and moved her hands through the motions bit her thumb and slammed it to the ground in time with the scientist. There was a loud explosion and she yelped as two dragons suddenly appeared. "Dragons!?" she exclaimed. "How!?"

The man chuckled. "I knew it! Tame them!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" she demanded. Her eyes switched between the two enormous dragons one with glittering silver scales and blue eyes and the other with black scales and ruby red eyes.

The winged beasts attacked and she fought alongside the other experiments to subdue them. The silver dragon unleashed a flurry of snow and ice as the black dragon used fire to attack.

"The silver one." Takuma said with a smile. "Bring out the first child!" he exclaimed.

An experiment brought out an infant with silver hair and ruby eyes as Takuma leapt forward and slammed a seal onto the beast. It cried out in protest as he began to seal the beast inside the tiny boy. His chakra began to dip and he grunted.

"269! Help me!" he demanded.

She blinked in surprise and nodded racing to his side frowning. "What are you doing to this baby?" she demanded.

"Don't ask questions!" he growled.

She cringed and nodded as she murmured words of sealing passed down from her grandmother and then looked at the silver dragon. "Hisame." She said meeting his gaze. "It's either this or death. This man will never let you go."

The silver dragon roared in protest even as the seal began to take effect. After several hours the seal was complete but the child was dying his body overwhelmed. She hissed in frustration and poured her chakra into him grimacing as the second dragon swooped through the sky.

"Leave it! We need to take care of the second one!" he exclaimed as another experiment carrying another child emerged. Rage burned inside of her.

"He'll die!" she screamed.

"I don't care." Takuma replied.

Something inside of her snapped as she looked at the baby screaming in her arms. She frowned and pushed more chakra into him. "I'll be right back." She assure the child as she slipped out of her sleeveless coat and wrapped it around him as be she could. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced up at the black dragon her eyes blazing and concentrated her ears and chakra.

"SHADOW!" she bellowed.

The dragon blinked in surprise and looked down at her rumbling in surprise as she began to create a barrier about him.

"What are you doing little girl?" he demanded. "Do you think a barrier like that will stop me? Shadow the Dragon of death and destruction! I will kill you all for imprisoning my brother!"

"Listen to me you giant lizard!" she yelled. "If you don't let me send you back you'll be trapped inside a human too is that what you want!?" she demanded.

The dragon growled at her. "Never!"

"They get through the damn portal before they figure out what I'm doing!" she snarled.

"My brother." He murmured looking at the weeping child.

"I'll protect that child's life with my own." She said to the giant creature. "That'll keep him safe but if you don't go now he'll die and Hisame will die with him!"

Shadow grumbled and then bowed to her. "As you wish. In exchange for protecting Hisame and saving me I will lend you my power and the power of my siblings when you call." He said.

Onchou cut her finger forming a seal to complete the contract and forced the massive dragon through the gate. She staggered towards the crying child and wrapped her arms around him letting the chakra left inside of her flow into the child to sustain his fragile life.

"What happened?!" Takuma demanded. "We were going to seal that dragon inside of this child!" he said motioning to a dark haired infant.

"That dragon was too powerful." She wheezed. "I would've killed the child and us. Isn't this enough?"

Takuma glared down at her. "Very well, but as punishment this child is your responsibility." He replied.

"You were planning on doing that from the very start." She murmured.

The blond scientist smirked and snapped his fingers. Flail lumbered forward one of the few that had survived the encounter. "Master." He murmured.

"Carry her and the child back to the hideout." He instructed. "I need to go ahead and prepare."

Flail nodded and lifted the two into his arms. "Are you alright Princess?" he asked.

"I'll be fine eventually." She murmured holding the child close to her heart. "What should we name him?"

The large man blinked. "Does he need a name?" he asked.

"Of course." Onchou replied. "Everyone needs a name." she thought for a moment. "Well, he does have a dragon inside of him now so how about Ryuu?"

Flail blinked and then shrugged. "Whatever you think is best." He replied.

The violet haired girl chuckled. "Ryuu it is then." She said looking down at the baby sleeping resltlessly in her arms. "I promise I'll protect you forever." She murmured kissing his tiny forehead.

Gaara's eyes widened his hands reaching instinctively towards her even as he went right through her. "I understand now." He murmured. "This is why Ryuu and Onchou are so protective of one another." He said as the years moved by again watching as she did her best to raise the silver haired child and herself.

Time moved forward and he watched as Takuma traveled with her through his own country to the now nonexistent Land of Pearls. Murderous rage ignited within him as he watch Lord Sugo lay his hands on Onchou intent on defiling her. His fist flew through the man's phantom image as he watched her struggle to fight the disgusting man off and eventually killed him. He shook his head as the guards entered the room and defended their fallen master adding fuel to the already dangerous fire raging inside of her. He watched as she destroyed the mansion and the betrayal she felt as the villagers once again defended her assailant.

"So this is what happened." He murmured as he watched the winged beast guided by the girl destroy the small island nation as the rage, hatred, and pain radiated from her in waves. "I understand this feeling." He murmured remembering how he'd been filled with the same emotions as a child after losing his uncle. His eyes filled with tears as he watched her collapse on the beach utterly alone and knelt in front of her reaching for her though he knew she couldn't sense his presence cursing when is arms went right through her. "You're not alone." He murmured. "Onchou…" his hand clenched into fists.

Time again moved forward as he watched her become stronger and more efficient her demeanor becoming colder towards everyone except for Ryuu who seemed to be the only source of warmth in her world. He noticed when a young man with a thin build and amber eyes appeared in her life and the light that came to her eyes when he was near her.

"Akira." He murmured as he listened and watched how Onchou lit up around him, how much she grew to care for him as they lived, trained, and fought together.

"Akira!" Onchou cried out as the mouth of the cave they were clearing collapsed. She focused her hearing and quickly scrambled to her partner's side who was groaning as he pushed a rock off of himself.

"That sucked." He muttered. "Now what do we do. I can't see a thing."

"Use your fire dummy." She replied as she focused her ears using it to sense their surroundings. She gasped and quickly scrambled to Akira shoving his hands down moments before they ignited.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "You just told me to."

"Shh!" she hissed slapping her hand over his mouth. "We're not alone in here."

Strange creatures with white skin, lidless eyes and pointed teeth approached them and Onchou shivered. She could hear their thoughts and knew that their intentions were to subdue them and eat them alive.

"What do we do?" she murmured. "I can't fight them alone."

"I don't know." Akira replied. "I could use earth style jutsu to get us out but I can't navigate in the dark."

She bit her lip as her heartrate pounded. "I can't die here." She murmured.

Akira reached out and grabbed her hands. "You're right." He replied. "Neither of us can. I'll do whatever it takes. To get us out of here."

An idea came to her and she took a deep breath. "Do you trust me?" she asked.

"Of course I do." He replied. "You're the only person in the world I trust."

"Ok then." She said reaching for him. She laid her forehead against his and murmured words and a silver glow surrounded them both making the strange creatures back away and hiss.

After a few moments they broke apart breathing hard. "I see you." Akira murmured touching her face. "Onchou, I…."

The creatures attacked and they broke apart to defend one another. "Can you make them out now?" she asked slicing through a pair of demonic looking creatures.

"Yeah. Let's do this." He replied swinging his chain and sickle.

Working together they managed to defeat the cave people and escape the hellish cave their bond stronger than ever having used the soul link jutsu. Soon after Takuma learned of their new bond and became angry sending the amber eyed shinobi on dangerous solo missions and conducting more sadistic experiments on the amethyst eyed girl. He watched the young shinobi attack the mad scientist during one such incident and his subsequent lock up.

"Akira." Onchou whispered as she knelt in front of the cell where he was kept touching his hands through the iron bars. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." The boy replied squeezing her hands. "Let's run away."

The violet haired girl's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

Akira nodded. "Yes. We'll run with Ryuu and never look back."

"What about finding your sister?" she asked.

"I heard about her on my last mission." He replied. "Besides, I can't stand the thought of you being here with that monster any longer. Please."

"Alright." She agreed. "We'll do it."

That night she awoke to the sound of the song of death playing in the lab and panicked as she realized it was near Akira. She sprinted barefoot to the dungeon ignoring the pain as she cut her feet on the stones tears running down her face as she heard his soul cry out to hers. She burst through the door just as the two Dolls standing over him moved away. Power exploded from her electrifying the creatures and destroying the cell door and she staggered inside gathering the boy into her arms as she frantically tried to heal his wounds her body shaking as she realized she was too late.

"No. No!" she cried. "Don't leave me!"

"Onchou." Akira rasped. "It's ok. I'm glad you're safe."

"Shut up!" she screamed. "Nothing about this is ok! Akira!" she sobbed.

"Onchou. Live on." He murmured. "Don't give up. You'll get out of this place and finally find the place you belong. A place with someone who can really protect you."

"Please." She whimpered. "Please don't leave me."

"I'm sorry." He murmured before his soul song left his body and he went still.

"No…" she whimpered laying her forehead on his.

Gaara watched the scene in front of him his head bowed. He had grown to respect the boy as he'd watched them and seeing how much pain Onchou was in from losing him made his heart ache. When she finally raised her head, he noticed the light in her eyes was gone and her demeanor became much darker, like her soul had withered.

The following years remained gloomy as she became consumed by her own darkness. She did as she was told killing anyone she was asked to. He was surprised when he'd seen her standing in the tree tops near a village near the land of rivers searching for her assassination target. He recognized it at once as one of the villages he'd passed through frequently just before the Fourth Great Ninja War as he'd helped prepare his nation for war. Her eyes widened as his former self had passed by his face and hair hidden by the hat he wore during his official duties. She then smiled and closed her eyes and he heard a song in the air that felt familiar.

"That man's song." She murmured. "It reminds me of Akira's and my own." She smiled. "Perhaps there's hope for this killing machine after all."

He was shocked at how quickly her demeanor had changed back to what it had been during her time with Akira. She was more affectionate with Ryuu and her determination to escape her mad scientist captor and look for her estranged father returned. The Fourth Great Ninja War began and she watched from a distance with Ryuu waiting patiently until a stray shot flew from the battlefield striking Takuma. They ran and didn't look back and she knelt before the silver haired child and swore to protect him forever. He watched as they traveled alone and then with Fifield and his band helping those they could on their way until the beasts began to pop up and they left their musician companions out of a desire to protect them. He watched her first encounter with the leaf Shinobi smiling at how quickly his blonde friend had befriended her as well. He watched as she fought with the black water inside of her left by Takuma's experiments. How she'd left the leaf shinobi in the inn to try to protect them as she forced a wave of tainted chakra from her system before passing out. He was shocked to find that his life being in danger had been what had dragged her from her comatose state and how desperate she'd been to protect him despite not knowing who he was.

"You really don't care about my title, or my power." He murmured as he watched her interact with him and the other shinobi. Feeling her genuine love and care for them and himself grow. "You care about my soul and wellbeing as a whole." He watched as she cried over her fear of him learning of her dark past and her desire to be by his side to support, protect, and care for him. "Onchou." He murmured. "I know how you feel." He murmured. His eyes widening as he watched her use all of her power to save him from the black water. Realizing that they were nearing the present, he looked down at the little girl still holding onto his hand.

"The jutsu is nearly complete." The girl replied. "I will take you to the rest of Onchou now."

He nodded and the girl pulled him away from the scene playing where she confessed that she wouldn't mind if he hated her as long as he lived and into the white void where he'd started. The sand wielder glanced around the mostly empty space and soon sensed two more people.

"There they are." The little Onchou said pointing to something to the right of them. He turned and was shocked to see himself as a small child without the red mark on his forehead dressed in white standing in front of him. The child's hand was wrapped around Onchou's who was dressed in a simple white dress similar in style to the one her smaller version was wearing.

Her eyes met his and quickly filled with tears. "Gaara." She murmured. "Please forgive me for doing this to you." She said softly. "It was the only think I could think of to save you. You've seen everything I've done during the course of my life. I don't blame you at all for hating me. If you'd like, once we leave this place, I'll leave and you'll never hear from me again." She said her body trembling slightly "But before that…" she quickly crossed the distance between them and dropped the hand of the younger version of himself and threw her arms around his neck hugging him tightly. "I am so sorry you suffered for so long all alone." She said against his shoulder as tears slid down her cheeks. "You didn't deserve any of the terrible things that happened to you. I wish more than anything that I could've been by your side."

His eyes widened and he leaned back a little lifting his hand to touch her cheek feeling the wetness there. "Tears." He murmured. "Tears for me?"

"Of course they're for you." She replied her voice shaking.

"You don't hate me?" he replied. "Even after seeing everything I've done? The bloodthirsty child I once was doesn't scare you?"

"Of course not." She replied. "I felt that way once too. I wanted nothing more than to hug that younger you him that he was loved."

His own body shook as he dropped the hand of her little doppelganger and wrapped his own arms around her holding her close as his own eyes filled with tears. "Onchou." He murmured. "I feel the same way about you." He said softly. "All of those awful things you suffered alone make my heart ache." He pressed her tighter to closing the distance she'd left between their bodies. "I don't hate you. When I saw what happened in The Land of Pearls and I understood exactly how you felt. I wanted to hold you when you were by yourself on that beach and tell you that you weren't alone."

Her eyes widened and she pulled back to look at him wiping the tears from his face. "Are those for me as well?" she murmured.

"They are." He replied softly.

She smiled a little, her eyes still teary and leaned her forehead against his. "Gaara." She murmured. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

"I think I do." He replied lifting a hand to touch her cheek. Her hand lifted to cover his and she closed her eyes.

"Are you ready to return to the others?" she asked. "I'm sure they're worried about us."

"What do you mean by return?" he asked.

"Right, you don't know." She said straightening slightly. "We're in a place created by the jutsu I used to save your life. It's the space where our two souls are bound and where the exchange of information, and power take place." She explained.

"Are you saying you used the Soul Link jutsu on me?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm sorry. It was the only way I could save you." She replied. "I was able to transfer my chakra to you and repair your chakra network by giving you some of my network's flexibility."

"I see." He said softly. "Thank you for saving me. In exchange, I promise to protect you forever. You will never be alone again."

She smiled. "I promise to protect you too. I'll be by your side forever if you'll have me." She murmured.

He smiled and touched his lips lightly to her forehead making her blush. "We should return." He said softly.

The violet haired girl nodded. "Yes." She said softly as her eyes closed.

His own eyes closed and when he opened them again, he found himself lying on his back staring up at the forest green canvas of the tent above him.


	26. Chapter 25

**Author's Notes:** Sorry it took me so long to update. I had a chapter before this that was more of an optional read for people not interested in the GaaraXOC pairing and I didn't want to update just that and leave all of the other readers unsatisfied. Anyway I hope this makes up for it.

%$%

Sasuke walked into the tent where Gaara and Onchou lay unconscious and sighed as he saw Sakura hovering over both of them her hands glowing green resting on both of their foreheads.

"That's going to work about as effectively as waiting for water to boil." He said crossing his arms over his chest. "They'll wake up when they wake up. There's nothing we can do right now."

"I know that." She replied lowering her hands cutting the green glow off. "I'm just worried and confused about their conditions. They really should've woken up hours ago." She said noting how dark it had become.

The Uchiha sighed and walked over to her patting her head affectionately. "They're going to be alright." He assured her. "Worrying yourself sick over them isn't going to help." He said reaching down to grab her hands. "Come on, let one of the others take over for you."

The pink haired medic sighed and nodded letting him help stand and walked towards the door glancing back at her patients one last time before letting Sasuke pull her out the door.

"Will someone take over to Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he walked with her towards the fire where the others were gathered.

"Yeah. I'll go." Kankuro said standing up. "Has their conditions changed at all?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He replied walking past her. "Thank you for looking after them."

Sakura nodded and then blinked in surprise when Sasuke tugged her away from the fire towards the edge of camp. He sat down in the soft sand and pulled her down to sit between his legs wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him.

"What is it Sasuke?" she asked as he tucked her head under his chin.

"We haven't had a chance to be alone like this since we left Suna." He said softly.

The pinked haired medic blinked and then snuggled into his embrace. "That's true." She admitted listening to the steady rhythm of his heart beating in his chest. "I've missed it."

"Me too." He replied after a few moments of comfortable silence he spoke again. "Why me?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Why did you choose me?" he asked softly. "I don't understand. You could have any other man in the world."

She paused for a moment. "I'm not really sure." She admitted. "I remember watching you as a child and thinking that you were pretty and kind. I couldn't help but admire how good you were at everything even back then." She shifted in his embrace leaning her head against his chest and glanced up at the stars. "After the massacre, you changed. You became cold and distant. As a child I couldn't quite understand why but I just knew deep inside that you were hurting and I wanted to make it go away. I just wanted to make you smile again." She sighed and placed her hand over his. "As I got a little older I wanted you to pay attention to me not just because you were good looking but because I wanted you to depend on me. I wanted you to trust me and open up to me. When we were put on the same Team I was so excited. I thought 'Here's my chance to prove to him how reliable I am!'" she chuckled. "Looking back, I was probably annoying as Hell but I really was just trying to get you to trust and open up to me. My desire hasn't changed much since then." She admitted. "All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy, I don't know when that feeling changed into the love I feel for you now but it did and it never stopped. Even as I saw you plunge deeper into the darkness I just couldn't make the feeling go away. I never looked at other guys, I was too focused on doing everything in my power to find a way to make you happy and I knew the only place that would happen was back in the village."

Sasuke's took a deep breath. "Sakura." He said softly his voice rough with emotion. She turned her head to glance up at him and he leaned down pressing his lips to hers. After a few seconds he pulled away. "Thank you." He murmured. "I never really understood it before but I think I do now."

"Understand what?" she asked.

"Why I could never stop thinking about you even when I wanted to. I think part of me recognized that your love for me was genuine and clung to it so that I didn't become a totally heartless bastard." He said brushing his fingers through her hair. "Back before Naruto and I fought and I cast that terrible genjutsu on you, I was hoping that you'd hate me."

"Why?" she asked her brow furrowing slightly.

He sighed. "I didn't have any intention of losing that fight. I was determined to win and take over the ninja world. I knew that doing that would mean I'd have to kill you eventually." He bowed his head. "It's a million times easier to kill someone that you know can't stand you."

Sakura blinked and then shook her head. "I guess that makes sense but you should've known that it wouldn't work on me."

"I know." He replied cupping her face in his hands and leaning his forehead against hers. "I know I've said it so many times but I'm so sorry for everything." He murmured his body trembling. He gritted his teeth as he struggled with his emotions as pain like he'd never quite felt throbbed in his soul. He wasn't just sorry for what he'd done, he felt deep remorse for how it had affected her, for her personal suffering by his own selfishness. His hands slid down to her shoulders and he closed his eyes. "The words just don't cut it." He muttered. "There's nothing I could possibly say that will make what happened ok."

"It's ok Sasuke." She replied moving her hands to thread through his hair. "I know you're sorry." He looked at her and she smiled at him before she leaned forward and kissed him. He hesitated for a moment and then responded wrapping his arms around her waist as hers twined around his neck. Her lips moved to his ear. "Let me in Sasuke." She murmured. "I'll mend that broken, aching heart of yours if you'll let me."

"Sakura." He murmured as his lips found hers again and he shifted pushing her down into the sand as he deepened the kiss letting his tongue dance with hers. She shifted under him and he tensed in response as a bolt of desire went through him. He wanted her. All of her. He wanted to burry himself in her warmth and let it wash away everything let it wash away the shadows that haunted him wherever he went. He groaned as his hands slipped under her shirt the softness of her skin tempting him to strip her right there.

"Sakura!" a voice called out. "Sasuke! Where are you? Gaara and Onchou have come to!"

"Damn that whiskered idiot." Sasuke muttered as he quickly moved off of her and helped her up brushing his hands over her back to get the sand off of her.

"It's ok." She replied. "We couldn't have gone much further than that anyway." She assured him as they quickly walked to the tent where the two injured shinobi lay.

"Are you guys alright?" Sakura demanded kneeling next to them her hands glowing green as she checked them again.

"We're fine." Onchou replied with a smile. "Sorry we worried you so much."

"Why were you out for so long?" the pink haired medic demanded.

The violet haired girl sighed. "It's a side effect of the jutsu I used. Sorry about that."

"What kind of jutsu is that?" Kankuro asked.

"It's a secret jutsu." The violet haired girl replied simply raking her fingers through her hair. She turned to Gaara. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

He nodded. "I am." He replied. "Though I feel a bit tired." He admitted.

"Well that's not surprising considering how hard it is to force tainted chakra from one's body." She said stretching.

"So is it all out of his system now?" Temari asked.

Onchou nodded. "It should be. That vaccine of Sakura's worked like a charm." She smiled at the pink haired medic. "You really are amazing. Thank you." She said bowing deeply. "I couldn't have saved him without you."

The pink haired medic blushed and nodded. "It was my pleasure. I'm glad it worked so well."

The violet haired girl nodded. "When we return to the village, you should probably make more. I'm fairly certain he'll use the same tactics again when he decides to attack."

Sakura nodded. "Of course. I'm hoping the ones I started will be finished by the time we get back."

"So what do you think Takuma is going to do now?" Shikamaru asked.

"His next target is Suna. He knows that's where I'm headed." She replied.

"Should we sent a messenger?" Temari asked.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea." Onchou replied. "In fact, we should get out of here as soon as possible."

"Why do you say that?" Kankuro asked.

"Takuma is getting desperate. He's bound to get more reckless because of that. He'll go to almost any extreme to get what he wants." She replied. Gaara looked over at her his eyes narrowing slightly and she quickly looked away.

"True." Sasuke conceded. "We'll leave at first light then."

The violet haired girl shifted to stand but was pushed down by Sakura. "Rest. You can't fool me as well as the others. You're exhausted." The pink haired medic said.

"I actually feel pretty good." Onchou protested. "My muscles don't even ache."

"I wasn't talking about your physical condition." Sakura replied.

The violet haired girl blinked in surprise and then sighed in defeat. "Fine. You win." She muttered.

"Good." The pink haired medic said with a smile. "Now rest."

The violet haired girl nodded and then pulled the covers up over herself curling into a ball facing away from the Kazekage. Sakura noticed immediately and frowned. "We should clear out so they can rest."

The rest of the ninja nodded quickly moved outside.

"Call if you need anything." Temari assured them touching Gaara on the shoulder and offering Onchou a smile. "Thanks for saving my little brother again."

"Please don't thank me." Onchou replied. "I was happy to."

The blond sand shinobi smiled. "Regardless, I'm thankful." She said before leaving the tent.

Tamiki knelt beside the violet haired girl. "I'll stay in here with them if it's all the same to you." He said glancing at Temari.

"That's fine. I'm sure you're worried about her." The blonde replied.

"Thank you." He replied simply.

%$%

Sakura frowned as she picked at her food from where she sat near the fire.

"What's wrong?" Saskue asked settling down beside her.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed sitting next to him with Hinata at his side.

"I have a bad feeling." She admitted touching her chin.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked. "Aren't both Onchou and Gaara doing well now?"

"I have the sinking feeling that Onchou is going to try to pull a Hinata." Sakura muttered.

The blue haired girl blushed and Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What the heck is that?" the blonde demanded.

"You know, all those times Hinata threw herself in front of danger for you and most recently when she handed herself over on a silver platter to that moon guy to save your butt." Sakura replied flicking the blonde in the forehead.

"I get it." Naruto said rubbing the now sore spot.

"Is that a bad thing?" Sasuke replied. "She could buy us time to prepare for an attack."

Naruto glared at the dark haired Uchiha. "Are you kidding me right now?!" he growled.

Sasuke shrugged. "That guy values her too much. He won't kill her." He reasoned.

The blonde haired ninja gritted his teeth. "You don't sacrifice your friends!" he snarled. "So what if he wouldn't kill her? He'd still hurt her! What the Hell is wrong with you!?" he demanded balling his hand into a fist.

Sakura grabbed his fist and as Hinata tugged on his arm. "Naruto, stop." The blue haired girl said softly.

The blonde took a deep breath and lowered his fist and jumped to his feet and glared down at the Uchiha. "I know you haven't been around decent people most of your life, but you should know by now that sacrificing a friend no matter the circumstances never makes things better in the end!" he balled his hands into fists. "Neji, Pervy Sage, Azuma Sensei," he looked directing at the Uchiha. "Itachi. They all sacrificed themselves for the greater good but those they left behind experienced immeasurable suffering. If someone can be saved, we should save them!" he snapped before storming off with Hinata right behind him.

Sasuke blinked and then sighed running his fingers through his hair. "Don't worry about it too much." Sakura said touching him on the shoulder.

"He's right." Sasuke said softly. "I haven't been around decent people. It's no wonder I turned out so twisted."

The pink haired medic sighed and wrapped her arms around him from behind draping her arms around his neck. "Oh Sasuke." She breathed laying her head on his shoulder. Her lips lightly brushed his cheek. "Give it time. You know how Naruto is, his friends mean more to him than anything."

"I know." Sasuke replied. "I should be more like that I guess."

Sakura shook her head. "No one is asking you to be like Naruto. One blonde idiot is enough in the world. Just be yourself."

The Uchiha reached up and rested his hand on her cheek. "I don't even know who I truly am anymore." He admitted.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha. Nothing more, nothing less." Sakura replied. "And I love you."

He sighed. "You're right."

"I know you can hear me." Takuma's voice sounded in Onchou's ears as she pretended to sleep. "If you want me to spare these friends of yours, come to me. You know I have enough Black Water in my possession to kill all of them in one fell swoop."

She gripped the blankets as she sensed his chakra and the chakra of two others she assumed were probably high level agents near the oasis. Her friends would probably protect her and do well, but even Naruto and Sasuke weren't immune to Black Water. Sakura only had two more doses of her antidote with her as well. She listened carefully and after ascertaining that both Gaara and Tamiki were still asleep, she slipped out of her bed roll and tiptoed silently to the tent door. As she slipped out, she quickly figure out that it was Lee on watch and moved as quickly as she could out of his line of sight before he could catch a glimpse of her. As soon as she reached the edge of the Oasis, she took off across the desert sprinting towards the vile chakra signature she hated. A small sigh of frustration escaped her lips as a wind carrying grains of sand brushed past her and Gaara of The Desert materialized in front of her his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at her.

"Where are you going?' he asked his voice just a touch rougher than it normally was.

Onchou blinked and then shifted popping out her hip as she crossed her own arms over her chest. He knew exactly where she was going and why she was going. She'd sensed him brush across her consciousness earlier while she'd been concocting her plan to give herself up to Takuma. "You already know that answer to that question." She replied.

"What do you think giving yourself up will accomplish?" he demanded.

"It'll buy you the time needed to prepare for an attack and save your life and the lives of our friends." She replied in a matter of fact tone.

"What is Takuma going to do to you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Probably the usual. Torture me until I'm within an inch of my life, put me back together, try out some new freaky experiment on me and then throw me in a dark room whining about how frustrating I am."

"Are you're ok with that?" he replied.

Her eye twitched as her hands balled into fists. "Are you kidding me?" she muttered. "Of course I'm not ok with it!" she yelled. "But what else am I supposed to do?! If I give myself up he'll leave the rest of you alone for now."

"Do you think that's what we want?" he demanded.

"Of course not." She replied raking her fingers through her hair. "I just can't see another option right now. Ryuu is in a safe place out of harm's way and I know that Takuma won't kill me. It's the only path where no one dies."

He sighed and stepped forward as the wind whipped around her tossing her violet hair. He caught a section as it flew and brought to his lips. "You told me once that I should value myself more. Shouldn't you do that same?" he murmured.

Her eyes widened as she blushed at the gesture. "It's not that I don't value myself." She argued. "I'm just trying to protect everyone, that's all."

"By offering yourself up like a lamb for slaughter?" he questioned.

The girl bowed her head. "I guess so." She admitted. "I've never thought of it quite like that before."

"Come back with me." Gaara said stepping closer to her. "We'll leave for Suna right now. We're strong enough to keep Takuma and his forces at bay and prepare a counter attack."

"Gaara." She murmured reaching for him. Her eyes widened as something grabbed her foot and dragged her into the sand.

"Onchou!" Gaara exclaimed barely missing her as he grabbed for her wrist. He whirled around and found Takuma standing there with a wicked grin on his face. Next to him bound by thick ropes was Onchou who glared at the mad scientist.

"Thanks for taking good care of my Princess for me Lord Kazekage." Takuma said with a sneer. "But I'm taking her back now." Gaara's sand swirled around him as he prepared to attack. "It appears I've made you angry." Takuma chuckled. "No matter, I have a lot of work to do so I'll take my leave now."

"Gaara!" Onchou cried out as she started to break through her bindings.

Gaara's sand whipped forward but he was just a touch to slow as the group of four vanished into the night. "Damn!" the sand wielder hissed as his sand swirled around him.

"Gaara! What happened?" Naruto demanded.

"He took her." The red head growled. "He took Onchou."

Sasuke and Sakura jogged up to meet them. "Did you say that Takuma got Onchou?" the pink haired medic asked.

He nodded. "That bastard. I'd just talked her into coming back too."

Sakura nudged Sasuke. "I told you she was going to try to pull a Hinata."

"In that case, we should head back to Suna and prepare for a counter attack." Shikamaru said walking forward with Temari. "He's a big enough threat that we'll want more back up from the Leaf."

"We need to go rescue her!" Naruto hissed.

A bright red light flashed in the distance and Tamiki ran forward and hissed in frustration. "That bastard got her didn't he?"

Gaara nodded. "We'll organize a rescue party right away."

"It's too late for that." Tamiki replied his eyes fixed on the direction of Heiwa.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

He pointed towards the red light. "The defense barrier around Heiwa has been activated." He replied. "It'll stay up for a minimum of twenty four hours regardless of who activated it."

"What kind of ridiculous barrier is that?!" Naruto demanded.

Tamiki sighed. "The people of Heiwa were proud people who desired the best protection available. I think it eventually warped their way of thinking. They became reliant on their defense systems and The Guardian but didn't learn how to defend themselves individually because of it." He sighed. "That's why Aria never wanted the mantle of Guardian. It wasn't because she didn't want to protect them, she wanted to share the power with everyone and spread around the responsibility."

Naruto nodded. "That's how it should be. Anyway, we should get back to Suna so we can assemble that retrieval team." He stepped up to Gaara and laid his hand on his shoulder. "We'll get her back. Don't worry."

Gaara nodded "Let's go." He said a hint of blood thirstiness from years past glinting in his eyes. "We don't have any time to waste."

"What's with him?" Kiba asked. "I mean, I'm worried about her too but still."

Sakura shook her head and patted his head sympathetically. "You'll figure it out someday." She assured him.

Onchou cringed as she focused on her breathing her fingernails digging into the shackles keeping her in place.

"Haven't you had enough?" Takuma asked as he scribbled on a scroll. "It would be easier if you just gave in."

"I'm not that soft." She hissed.

"You're right." He acknowledged as released the lever next to him.

Onchou gritted her teeth against the pain, her body pressing into the slab she was chained to as acid dripped from a beaker hanging from the ceiling burning the already abused flesh of her abdomen. She knew for a fact that he wouldn't kill her so neither would the acid however it still seared her nerves made her eyes roll back with pain.

"You've improved your formula." She gasped when the flow finally stopped and he moved to her side his hands glowing green as he repaired the muscle that had been damaged. "It hurts more than it used to."

He nodded. "I was bored." He replied. "Why are you still fighting me? They're not coming for you. Even if they do they won't make it in time. The preparations are nearly complete."

"I won't become one of your Dolls!" she hissed.

"Come now, you know that's not what I really want." He said letting his fingers linger on her exposed skin making her skin crawl. "I just want you to cooperate with me."

"Sorry. Taking over the world has never really interested me. Go find some other supped up shinobi to help you out." She muttered.

"Ah, but no one else will do." He replied. "It has to be you daughter of Aria." He murmured. "You're the only one with the ability to summon and control Dragons. Not only that but you have the power to wield The Guardian stone."

She arched a dark brow at that as she focused on the white space in her mind. It was the place where she and Gaara's souls were linked and she knew he could hear what she was hearing. She'd done if frequently during her capture letting him know just how strong Takuma's forces were and information he let slip about his plans. Her soul could sense his agitation and frustration at the lack of help she could offer her but she let it go trusting that he would come for her soon like he promised.

"Only The Guardian can use that power." She argued. "I am not the Guardian."

Takuma laughed. "Oh really? You really don't know then?"

"Know what?" she demanded. "You're not making any sense."

"Your mother Aria was slated to be the next Guardian." He said as he released her bonds temporarily binding her sore wrists with rope and tugging her along with him.

"I knew that." She replied. "So what?"

"There is a ritual that must take place for the transfer of power." He replied. "The attack on Heiwa where your mother met that pathetic man who fathered you took place just over a month before it was supposed to happen."

"Ok… and your point is…" Onchou replied wincing as he tugged on the rope harder as he guided her though the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Heiwa.

"The ritual basically releases the seal binding The Guardian to the stone and the replaces it on the most willing vessel in the room." He explained. "Since there's only ever The Guardian and the new Guardian in the room there was never a problem until the day your grandmother released her seal with the intention of passing the power on to your mother."

"Grandmother was?" Onchou murmured.

Takuma nodded. "Yes. However it didn't go according to plan that day. Not only was your mother an 'unwilling vessel' since she didn't want the power, but she wasn't the only other person in the room."

"What are you talking about?" Onchou demanded.

He dragged her into a grand room and her eyes widened as she saw a glittering silver stone floating in the middle of the room. She could sense the immense chakra coming from in and an intense throbbing sensation knocked her to her knees as she clutched her chest. Her eyes widened as she saw the seal she'd borne since birth on her chest begin to glow.

"You were in that room." Takuma said watching her with eyes filled with lust for power. "A newly formed fetus. Your mother probably didn't know she was carrying you at the time. Instead of the power going to her as intended, it was passed to you as an unborn child."

Onchou's eyes widened. "Me?" she murmured.

He nodded. "Exactly. You feel it don't you?" he said motioning to the floating stone. "The power that wants to bind with you so badly."

"I won't let it." She muttered as sweat dripped from her brow. "I don't want it."

"That's fine." Takuma replied. "I'll gladly take it instead." He rolled out a scroll and his brow furrowed slightly as he read over it. "All I have to do is perform the soul link jutsu on you and force you to release the seal. It's an ancient technique but you were able to do it as a child to that annoying pest so I'm sure I can manage it. It was a pain to kill him off though. I really had hoped to use him as my next vessel."

The violet haired teen gaped at him and then began to laugh startling the mad scientist. "Why are you laughing?" he demanded. "I thought you loved that kid?"

"I did." She replied. "However, it's too late. You can't use that jutsu on me."

Takuma turned his eyes to her his blue eyes blazing. "Why is that?"

"I've already used it." She replied. "It can only link two souls together at a time. You can't break it without killing one of the parties."

"You're bluffing." He replied. "I know you'd never use it on that silver haired brat because you're afraid it would release the dragon inside of him. There's no one else you're close enough to either." He walked over to her and murmured the words grabbing her hand even as she tried to pull away. Chakra from his body tried to enter hers but was blocked as a burst of gold tinted chakra burst from her slamming the blond against the wall. He staggered to his feet his eyes blazing and ran at her slamming her up against the wall. "You wretched girl!" he roared. "Who was it!? Who did you use it on!?"

She gritted her teeth at the pain and the sensation of blood running down her neck and chuckled. "I'll never tell." She rasped.

"Damn you!" Takuma roared. "I'll make you tell me!" he growled grabbing a syringe from his coat and plunging it into her arm. She winced at the pain and slid to the ground as he released her and began forming hand signs. "I'll break your mind and then your spirit." He promised darkly as the drug went to work amplifying her senses. Fire flew from his hands and she screamed as the heat seared her nerves.

"Gaara!" she screamed in her head as she writhed on the floor. "Save me!"

"Damn it all!" Sakura snarled as she drove her fist into the nearest wall creating a crater and spreading spider web shaped cracks over the face if it. "The elders in this stinking village are just as irritating as the last time we were here!"

"Calm down Sakura." Sasuke said softly. "Getting angry isn't going to solve anything."

"Well what in the Hell am I supposed to do then!?" she yelled. "She's been stuck with that homicidal maniac for over a week now! Who knows what he's done to her?" she squeezed her hand. "And Ryuu… He's so upset. I can't stand seeing him in so much pain."

"We're just going to have to trust Gaara to get everything arranged." Sasuke replied.

Sakura snorted. "Yeah right. Those damn vultures on that council didn't jump out of their seats to save them when he was the one on the alter four years ago." She glanced at the door as the red haired Kazekage walked into the room his hand touching his temple.

"How did it go?" Sakura demanded.

"They refuse to assemble a team to retrieve Onchou." He muttered.

"What!?" Naruto demanded walking up to him. "Why?"

"They say that as long as she is there supplying us with information and buying us time we should just let it go." The red head replied.

"So we're just supposed to let Takuma keep torturing her and continue building up his army while they sit around and you prepare for war?" TenTen demanded putting her hands on her hips.

Gaara sighed wincing as he touched his forehead he'd heard her cry out to him after learning that she was The Guardian and all he'd been able to do was reassure her that he was doing everything in his power to try to save her.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "It's because she's The Guardian isn't it? They're afraid of her power now." He glared at the older men and women walking past the room. "Damn geezers! Don't they know what she's done to protect this village? She isn't even an official citizen!"

"That's the other problem." Kankuro said sitting down in an empty chair. "Because she's not an official citizen they say she's not their responsibility."

"Who cares about stuff like that?" Naruto shot back. "She's our friend! We can't just leave her like that!"

Gaara bowed his head. "My hands are tied. I cannot send a team after her, nor can I go after her myself."

The blonde haired ninja looked at his friend his eyes narrowing. "So are you just going to let Takuma have his way with her? Let him continue torturing her?"

"Naruto." Sakura said softly.

"There's nothing I can do." Gaara replied. "I don't like this either."

"You're abandoning her then?" Naruto asked advancing the Kazekage. "She trusted you and now because of what a bunch of geezers said you're just going to leave her all alone?" he grabbed him by the robes and slammed him up against the wall even as the other shinobi around the room jumped to their feet. "How dare you treat a friend like that!?"

"I am the Kazekage." Gaara replied. "I have to do what is best for my village."

The Uzamaki's eyes narrowed as he dropped the red head and stepped away. "I didn't realize being Kazekage meant you had to sacrifice your friends." He replied. "If I was Hokage, I wouldn't give a damn what the council said. I would go after her anyway. You don't abandon your friends no matter what fancy title you hold." He said before he left the room.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out as she went to follow him but Sasuke grabbed her by the arm and shook his head.

"Let him go for now." The Uchiha said softly. "He needs to cool his head."

Gaara dusted off his robes and sighed hanging his head. He felt so frustrated so confused. His heart was breaking as he heard Onchou's cries for help but he was also bound by his duty to listen to the council. "Onchou." He murmured lowering his head. "Please just wait a little longer."

"I can't." came her reply. His head snapped up his eyes widening at the sound.

"Gaara? What is it? Are you hurt?" Kankuro asked.

The Kazekage shook his head as he tried to listen for the rest of Onchou's message. It had been a challenge adjusting to the Soul Link jutsu. Onchou seemed to be pretty adept at it letting him see and hear through her as Takuma spoke of his plans. He'd been surprised to learn that she was The Guardian and felt a connection to her as he realized they'd both received such heavy burdens before their birth. He'd begged the council to let him send teams from his village or The Leaf to retrieve her after learning that hoping it would encourage them but it had only detoured them further.

"I heard everything." Onchou replied. "You're not coming for me."

His hands gripped his desk at the brokenness of her tone. "I want to." He assured her. "I'm trying to."

"I can't wait any longer." She said softly. "In three days Takuma's army will arrive at Suna. Please let the council know."

"Wait!" he hissed in his head. "Listen to me." But the link was gone and he didn't know how to reestablish it. "Damn!" he growled aloud.

"What is it?" Sakura asked. "Another message from Onchou?" Gaara had explained the situation to her soon after Onchou had been kidnapped about the Soul Link jutsu the violet haired girl had used. She couldn't deny that she was curious about it and wanted to know more about it.

"She says that she can't wait anymore." He replied. "Takuma and his forces will be here in less than four days."

"What!?" Temari gasped. "Why?"

"I don't know." Gaara replied. "I can't reestablish the link. It's like she cut it off."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That's not a good sign." She muttered.

"No it's not." The red head replied. "Regardless, it's time to prepare for battle."

%#%

Onchou stood in front of a full length mirror after slipping her weapon's pouch into place on her leg. She was wearing black shorts with a nearly floor length skirt that was slit up to her hips on both sides so that it was easy to move. Tall shinobi style sandals adorned her feet and red fingerless gloves covered her hands. Her shirt had long kimono style sleeves trimmed with red and covered her to just below her bust line. A mesh under shirt covered her abdomen. "This isn't me." She murmured as she took in her reflection.

"You look ravishing." Takuma said as he walked into the room grinning at her. "I could never get you to wear stuff like this before. You actually look like a Princess of Death now. Or perhaps Dragon Queen is a better title." He said as he came up behind her and ran his fingers through her hair.

"Don't touch me." She demanded. "You know exactly why I agreed to do this and what my terms are. Touching me is not part of the deal."

The mad scientist chuckled and raised his hands in a gesture of submission. "Of course. You'll help me take over the world in exchange for me not turning you into a Doll and letting you and Ryuu live together in peace afterwards."

"Exactly." She replied. "I'm not doing this for you so don't you start getting any more sick ideas in that twisted brain of yours."

He smirked and nodded. "Here." He said handing her The Guardian's stone wrapped in special paper that concealed its chakra signature. "You'll want this on your person."

She nodded and slipped it into one of the pouches attached to her hip. "Are we ready then?" she asked picking up the black cloak that laid on the bed that used to belong to her mother.

"Yes. The units are all assembled waiting for my orders." Takuma replied.

"Very well." She said slipping the cloak on and walking out of the bedroom, and through the house she'd once grown up in. With quick easy movements she took to the roof tops and dashed across them until she arrived at the end of the town and scrambled to the top of the main guard tower. She surveyed the mass of bodies below her as Takuma materialized beside her.

"Why did you just transport yourself here?" he asked.

"I wanted to warm up my muscles." She replied.

He chuckled and then looked over the village. "It's a glorious sight isn't it?" He murmured as he looked at the Dolls waiting patiently below him. "An army of one hundred thousand willing bodies just waiting for the command to take over this tainted world." She said nothing as she looked out across the mass of people. Takuma raised his hand and the generals of his army appeared before him and knelt.

"Lord Takuma, Princess, we are at your command." The leader a middle aged man with a thick build and long silver hair who went by the title Storm Bringer said as he bowed.

Takuma glanced at Onchou his eyes expectant and eager. She exhaled willing the tension in her body to leave and turned towards the direction Suna was located in. "Move out." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I will travel with Takuma to Suna."

"Why there milady?" Storm Bringer asked. "The Leaf is stronger. Those units will need your power more."

She glanced down at the man. "I have a personal score to settle with the Kazekage." She replied her eyes narrowing. "I'll head for The Leaf as soon as I've taken care of him."

"As you wish My Lady." Storm Bringer replied with a bow before turning to the other Generals. "Move your troops out."

"Ready or not. Here we come." She murmured as the mass of Dolls quickly began to move across the desert. Her hands formed hand signs before she bit he thumb and slammed it to the ground. A large yellow dragon with a slim build and blue zig-zags scattered across their body appeared before her and bowed it's head.

"Lady Onchou." The dragon murmured. "How might I serve you?"

"Hello there Miss Electra." Onchou replied. "It's been a while. I have a very specific mission for you." She said touching the dragon on the nose. "Would you help me?"

"Of course." The dragon replied. "Anything for you."

The violet haired girl nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

%*%

Sasuke stood atop the walls of Suna between Sakura and Naruto gazing out across the desert. His eyes narrowed when he recognized a sea of people with lifeless eyes nearing the city.

"Here they come." He murmured. "Right on time too."

"Is Onchou with them?!" Naruto demanded touching him on the shoulder.

"I don't see or sense her chakra." Sasuke replied his eyes widened as he detected a massive amount of lightning chakra moving at an incredible rate towards the city. "What is that?!" he demanded trying to focus his eyes.

"Do you see something else?" Kankuro asked as he climbed up to stand near them. "Besides the army of Dolls anyway."

The Uchiha's eyes widened. "No way!" he exclaimed as the creature bearing the chakra let out an earth shaking roar.

"What is it!?" Naruto demanded.

"Remember what Takuma said Onchou's summons was." Sasuke muttered still willing his mind to believe what his eyes were seeing.

"Yeah, a dragon or something like that." The Uzamaki replied. "But he was bluffing right? Dragons don't actually exist."

"They do exist." The Uchiha said pointing to the creature in the distance. "Unless you have another name for what the giant flying lizard is."

Sakura covered up her mouth as her eyes widened. "No way!" she murmured.

The creature swopped down from the sky ahead of the army of Dolls and opened its mouth wide. Lightning shot forward and struck the ground just in front of the walls of the city and the creature roared again.

"What are we going to do?" Kankuro murmured. "We can't fight that."

"Go tell your Kazekage that he's got an army of Dolls accompanied by a lightning breathing dragon knocking on his front door." Naruto muttered. He turned to the Uchiha. "Can you take control of it?"

The Uchiha looked at the creature and focused his eye power and frowned. "No. It seems to be immune to my power."

"Well that sucks." Naruto muttered as the Dolls neared the front lines of Suna's forces. "Time to suit up." He said before he turned and leapt from the wall landing lithely next to the rest of the ninja from Konoha. Sasuke and Sakura shook their head and the recklessness of their friend and then jumped down themselves moving from level to level down the cliffs surrounding Suna to stand beside their friends.

"So what are we going to do about the dragon?" Shikamaru asked glancing up as the creature unleashed another flurry of lightning attacks.

Sakura frowned. "Onchou probably summoned it. That means that in order to stop the dragon, we need to find her."

"Do you think this means she's on Takuma's side?" TenTen asked.

"I don't know." Sakura admitted. "Even if she is, it's likely against her will."

"How can you be sure?" Sasuke asked. "She could have felt abandoned and betrayed and gone to his side willingly to get revenge."

"I doubt it." The pink haired medic replied.

"Why?" Naruto asked hanging his head. "It's true. We're her friends and we didn't save her like we should have."

"Call it a hunch." Sakura said watching as Gaara materialized nearby. Hinata glanced at the pink haired ninja and they both exchanged a knowing look before their eyes flickered to the men they loved and had nearly willingly sacrificed themselves for.

"We need to find Onchou." Sasuke said oblivious to the exchange. "Regardless of whose side she's on now, she's the only one that can stop that dragon."

"Where do we even look?" Kiba asked.

"Takuma." Naruto replied immediately. "He'll know for sure."

"I'm coming with you." Gaara said as he approached them.

"Why?" Naruto asked his eyes narrowing at the Kazekage. "Did the elders give you the ok?"

"No but it doesn't matter. If I'd rescued her like I wanted to right away, we wouldn't be in this predicament." The Kazekage replied. "It's just like you said Naruto. How can I protect the village if I can't protect those closest to me first?"

The Uzamaki glanced at his friend and then nodded a little smile coming to his face. "Ok then. Let's go find that bastard!"


	27. Chapter 26

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for all the support! This next part is going to be action packed and full of surprises. I hope you enjoy it.

$#$

"I sense him." Sasuke said as the Konoha 12, the sand siblings and Tamiki fought their way through the Dolls approaching the city. "He's near the back atop a black horse. He appears to be alone."

"Let's go then!" Naruto exclaimed. "We don't have any time to waste!"

With their goal now in sight, the ninja quickly weaved their way through the sea of Dolls and arrived at their target.

Naruto roared and tackled the mad scientist from his mount his nostrils flaring as the blonde man dressed in black and gold rose to his feet.

"You're slower than I anticipated." He replied tossing his hair with a sneer. "I was beginning to think you really didn't care about that girl after all. You did leave her all alone with a mad scientist after all."

"Shut your mouth!" Naruto growled.

"Where's Onchou!" Sakura demanded.

"Why do you care?" Takuma replied. "She's of no use to you now." He glanced sky ward as the yellow dragon streaked by. "What a beautiful creature." He murmured. "Her summons are nearly as breathtaking as she is." He mused.

"I've heard enough." Sasuke said as black flames formed in his hand. "He's not going to tell us so we'll just kill him now and keep searching for her. That dragon will go back to her eventually." He unleashed the attack intent on killing the man and was shocked when a figure clad in black materialized in front of him. A silver shimmering barrier appeared deflecting the flames and then winked out of existence.

"Who in the world…" TenTen muttered.

"I was worried there for a second." Takuma said looking down at the cloaked and hooded figure. He reached out and touched his savior's face. "It seems I had nothing to fear after all."

The figure removed his hand from their face. "Of course." A soft musical voice murmured. "I made a promise to you after all."

He smirked. "That you did."

"I know that voice." Naruto murmured his eyes wide. "Sasuke…"

The Uchiha nodded. "There's no doubt about it."

The figured turned towards them pushing back the hood of the cloak revealing a waterfall of violet colored hair. "Hello there. It's been a little while hasn't it?" Onchou murmured.

Gaara's eyes widened as he took in the figure standing in front of them. Gone were her normal conservative clothes replaced with something much darker and more revealing. Her hair had been done up as well giving her a deadly, but regal look. Her amethyst eyes met his and he nearly flinched at the hurt and rage he saw in her eyes. "Onchou." He murmured.

"The Kazekage himself came out to see me?" She remarked with a smirk. "I suppose I should feel grateful or something like that?"

"We've come to rescue you!" Naruto said extending a hand towards her. "You don't have to stay with this creep anymore."

"What makes you think she's with me against her will?" Takuma asked. "She's here with me, protecting me because she chose to."

"Onchou. Is this true?" Sakura asked her eyes wide. The amethyst eyed girl shrugged and smiled sadly at the pink haired medic lowering her head slightly as though apologizing to her.

"As touching as this reunion is," Takuma said glancing at the ninja. "it's becoming troublesome. Help me take care of them won't you my Princess?" he moved closer and brushed his lips against her ear. "Remember what we discussed. You know what will happen if you fail." He murmured pressing his fingers painfully against her back.

"I understand." She replied raising her hands to form signs.

"What is he holding over you?" Naruto asked. "This isn't what you want Onchou!"

"What I want doesn't matter. It never has." She replied as her chakra flared. "I will do whatever is necessary to protect the ones I love."

"Let us help you!" Sakura urged. "You don't have to do this alone."

"I do." Onchou replied her eyes downcast. "The only hands I trust to protect myself are my own!" she exclaimed unleashing a wave of wind chakra blasting the group back.

"Listen to us!" Naruto exclaimed as she advanced with lightning crackling around her. "We'll protect you!"

"I don't believe a word you people say anymore!" she exclaimed unleashing a series of lightning attacks.

Takuma laughed. "That's a good girl."

"Shut your mouth!" Naruto exclaimed launching forward and slamming his fist into his face. "What did you do to her!?"

"Nothing I haven't done before." The scientist replied.

"Then why is she turning against her friends like this?" Shikamaru replied dodging an attack as he worked to paralyze the girl.

"You call yourself her friends?" he chuckled. "You haven't acted like it at all leaving her alone with the likes of me."

"There are rules that need to be followed." Kankuro argued as he moved his puppet forward gritting his teeth as he tried to hold back from killing the amethyst eyed girl.

Takuma laughed as he drew a sickle and chain from his robes. "That's what people always use to alleviate their guilt." He said as he advanced TenTen. "I killed that child because I was ordered to by my superior. I left my friends to die for the sake of completing the mission my superior gave me." He mocked. "They're all excuses!" he growled knocking the brown haired kunochi to the ground before blocking an attack from Gaara. "Tell me Lord Kazekage, are these elders that keep you on such a short leash out here fighting alongside your precious soldiers are they hiding somewhere safe waiting until the danger passes to tell everyone that it was your lack of ability that caused all of the casualties?"

Gaara's eyes widened briefly before he gritted his teeth and blasted the man back.

The mad scientist laughed and leapt to his feet. "It's the same in every village! The elders sit back and sacrifice the children with extraordinary powers and abilities! Brainwashing them into thinking it's their duty to protect them and the village at all costs! Stripping them of their own wills and desires!" He slammed his fist into the ground cracking the ground and sending a barrage of stone spikes at the Kazekage his eyes glowing slightly as he grinned. Naruto and Sasuke moved in to flank him sending a series of wind and fire attacks at the scientist who created a stone wall to protect himself. "It makes manipulating the strong even easier. They're so convinced they have to protect everyone else that they lose their sense of self and self-worth." He laughed and formed more hand signs. "I should really should thank those council members of yours Lord Kazekage. She was fighting me with everything she had. Even when I managed to get inside her mind and started to seal away her will to turn her into a Doll she fought until she heard that they had made the decision not to help her. She became putty in my hands after that." He sneered.

"Damn you to Hell!" Naruto exclaimed his power flaring as wind whirled in his hand. "How dare you make her suffer like that?!" he exclaimed throwing a rasengan at the man. It hit him square in the chest and sent him flying back as blood flew from his mouth. Onchou seemed to notice and immediately flew to his side.

"Why are you helping him!?" Kiba demanded as her hands began to glow green.

The violet haired girl said nothing as she worked her brow furrowing in concentration.

"Onchou." Gaara said softly extending his hand towards her.

"Shut up!" she snarled. "Hearing your voice makes me livid."

Temari walked forward. "Onchou. I know you're hurting but believe me when I say Gaara did everything he could to try to help you. He never stopped thinking about you."

"I know that." The violet haired teen replied. "I know that better than anyone… But thoughts without works are useless."

"Well spoken." Takuma said with a smirk. "Now, let's see you get serious." He said forming hand signs. He touched the ground and Onchou gasped as a series of stone spikes erupted from the ground impaling the amethyst eyed girl through the chest and abdomen.

"Onchou!" Sakura cried out moving towards her only to be forced back by Takuma's sickle.

"You bastard!" Naruto snarled.

Takuma only grinned as he released the jutsu and she staggered but managed to remain upright clutching at her wounds. "Why are you trying to kill me now?" she gasped.

"Just wait." He snickered.

The shinobi shifted nervously as the pouch attached to the young woman's side began to shake and then burst open. Onchou glanced up and her eyes widened. "The stone." She murmured watching the paper fall from the silver rock. "But why…"

"It will instinctively activate to protect its host." Takuma replied with a wicked gleam in his eye. "Now we'll witness its true power!"

The shinobi watched nervously as the stone zoomed towards the amethyst eyed shinobi and then buried itself in her chest.

"Onchou!" Tamiki cried out as her back arched back and she flew into the sky her eyes wide as power exploded sending a bright white shockwave across the sky.

"What's happening!?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as his power flared. "I suggest you tap into that six paths power of yours." He replied softly.

The Uzumaki's eyes widened as he did as his friend instructed tapping into Kurama's power.

Onchou's body slowly lowered towards the ground her body shimmering with a silver glow as her hair whipped around her. She hovered above the group and then looked at her hands her now silver eyes reflecting curiosity.

"Beautiful." Takuma murmured his eyes wide.

She raised her hands and a ball of orange light appeared in her palm. She murmured words the other shinobi couldn't understand and pushed it away from her and slashed her arm across her body. The ball of light reacted and bright orange lights shot from it striking the all of the Shinobi from Suna and Konoha in the middle of the forehead.

"What the Hell…" Shikamaru muttered touching the spot.

"What are you doing?" Takuma asked the girl as she lowered to the ground.

She smirked at him. "This power has amplified a part of me I haven't touched in a while." She admitted. Her head turned to gaze at the sixteen ninja gathered in front of her. "I just felt like marking my prey so that no one else got the idea they could have them." She murmured her eyes drifting to Storm Bringer hovering nearby.

Takuma laughed out loud. "Marking your prey huh? Don't you think you might have your hands full?" he said looking at Naruto and Sasuke who were crouched down ready to attack with their chakra flaring. "You also need to destroy Suna." He reminded her.

"Who said I'd be doing it alone?" she asked raising her hand towards the sky. A large hole opened up and a series of ear splitting roars rent the air as a black dragon streaked through the portal flanked by a smaller emerald colored dragon and a sapphire dragon.

"Oh shit." Kiba muttered as he watched Onchou leap into the air landing on the black dragon's head.

"Shadow." She murmured. "I'm glad you've come."

A low rumble sounded in his chest and she reached out to touch the emerald colored dragon. "Erde." She murmured rubbing his nose. "I've missed you. You've grown up." She then reached for the blue dragon. "Titan." She called stroking the horn that protruded from his nose. "You're nearly as big as your big brother now."

"He'll never be as big as me." Shadow grumbled from beneath her.

"Of course not." She replied.

"Lady Onchou. Your orders." Erde said studying her with sapphire eyes.

"This is the first time you've summoned all of us at once." Titan replied. "The situation must be serious."

Onchou nodded. "I want you and Erde to go to your sister." She said touching the jeweled toned dragons. "She'll tell you everything you need to know."

"As you wish." They rumbled before they took off across the battle field towards the smaller yellow dragon.

"What are you thinking!?" Naruto demanded as he swooped in on one of Sai's ink birds. "You have friends in Suna right? What about Ryuu?!"

She smirked. "He won't be harmed. The dragon sealed inside of him is the eldest brother of these four."

"What about everyone else?" Sakura asked from where she sat on a bird behind Sasuke.

"They don't care about what happens to me, so why should I care about what happens to them?" Onchou replied.

"Do you even hear how crazy you sound?" Sasuke demanded.

She smirked and looked at him careful to avoid his gaze. "About as crazy as your brother did when he destroyed my village years ago."

"Itachi did that?" Sasuke replied his eyes wide.

"Yes. He caught me but let me go because I reminded him of you." She replied tilting her head to the side. "Imagine how much suffering he could've save the world if he'd just killed both of us when he had the chance. He really was a lamb in wolf's clothing." She murmured.

"Onchou. This isn't like you." Gaara said as he floated to her level on his sand.

She glared at the Kazekage. "What part of 'don't talk to me' don't you understand sand man!" she hissed her silver eyes blazing. Her eyes widened for a second and then she smirked. "Nice try blondie." She said as she leapt from Shadow's head and hurled towards the ground. She reached out and grabbed Ino's arm and wretched it behind her back and slammed her to the ground. "That kind of trick won't work on me." She picked up the mind transfer ninja and tilted her head to the side. "You're not in the same league as me so stay out of the way." She hissed tossing the girl aside.

"Ino!" Chouji cried out dashing to his fallen teammate's side. "Are you alright!?"

"She'll be fine as long as she stays out of the way." Onchou replied. She glanced skyward and sighed. "Now I've got a pissed off boyfriend to deal with. What a pain." She muttered. "Shadow! Entertain the blonde kid, the Uchiha, his girlfriend and the Kazekage for a little bit will you?" she called out. "Naruto has a fox that he might let out to play if you push him hard enough. I've got a little work to do."

Shadow chuckled and sneered flames leaking out from between is lips. "With pleasure My Lady." He murmured. He streaked forward reducing the birds to ink with his razor sharp claws and then unleashed a wave of crimson fire from his mouth at the four shinobi.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and directed the fire away from himself and Sakura as Naruto cut through it with his Rasenshuriken landing lithely on the ground. Gaara dodged the attack and landed beside the Uzumaki.

"I recognize this beast." He murmured.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke demanded.

"This was the summons Onchou used to destroy The Land of Pearls." Gaara replied.

"Damnit!" Naruto hissed. "Should I let Kurama fight him?"

"I don't know how much good it'll do." Sasuke admitted.

"I think you should." Sakura replied as the dragon prepared to attack again.

"What are you thinking?" Sasuke asked.

"We all know the one pulling the strings behind this entire mess is Takuma." She said her eyes narrowing as she watched the mad scientist easily defect and attack from TenTen. "If we want to stop this madness we need to take him down."

"Good thinking." Sasuke replied. "Naruto, that dragon is all yours."

"This should be fun." The Uzumaki replied as tails began to form from the yellow cloak of chakra around his body before he took off into the sky. One of the tails formed a fist and slammed into the dragon's chest knocking him out of the sky.

"It's been a long time Shadow." Kurama murmured.

"You know this guy?" Naruto asked.

The nine tails nodded. "We've clashed in the past. We're both fueled by the same dark desires that exist within mankind." He murmured.

Shadow chuckled. "Kurama. You look silly being trapped inside a puny mortal."

"Don't underestimate this man." Kurama replied. "He's taken down enemies stronger than you."

"We shall see." The black dragon replied spewing a stream of fire at the blonde shinobi.

%$%

Sasuke and Sakura watched Takuma closely waiting for an opening. The pink haired medic glanced at the Kazekage whose gaze was fixed on Onchou as she blasted Shikamaru with a lightning bolt sending him flying into Temari.

"What are you thinking Gaara?" she asked.

"I am going to leave Takuma to you." He said softly.

"What are you going to do then?" Sasuke asked watching as the sand swirled around him.

"What I should've done from the start." The Kazekage replied as he began to rise into the sky. "I'm going to protect her."

Sakura watched him rise into the air using his sand to ease Sai's fall to the earth as Onchou knocked him from his bird.

"What is he talking about?" Sasuke muttered. "She's the enemy."

"Not everything is as simple as it appears." Sakura replied watching as Onchou tensed at the Kazekage's approach. "Regardless, let's get to work." She said turning back to their black and gold clad opponent. "I really want to cream this guy for torturing Ryuu and Onchou for so long."

He smirked. "Then let's get to work." He said rushing forward drawing his katana. He electrified the blade and swiped it across the air barely missing the mad scientist. Takuma back flipped to safety and smirked.

"The legendary Sasuke Uchiha." Takuma snickered. "It seems you managed to slip away from Orochimaru after all. Perhaps you'd like to join me instead? Those eyes of yours are intriguing. Nearly as intriguing as that girl's ears."

Sasuke snickered. "I defeated Orochimaru and he's twice the ninja you'll ever be. I'd never even heard you name until all of this troublesome business started."

Takuma laughed. "Just what I'd expect from an Uchiha. Such arrogance." He murmured as he took a syringe and plunged it into his own arm. He doubled over as his chakra level began to rise and his blonde hair turned stark white.

"Did he just use Black Water on himself?" Sakura asked.

"It looks like it." Sasuke replied. "Be on guard."

The mad scientist straightened as manic laughter tumbled from his lips. His blue eyes changed to black and red as he flexed his fingers. "Acid blast!" he exclaimed aiming the attack at the two shinobi. They leapt out of the way instinctively landing lithely just out of the blast zone.

Sakura looked down and cringed at the bubbling mass of sand in front of them. "Well that stuff will burn right through you." She muttered.

"Focus." Sasuke reminded her as another blast came their way.

She nodded and jumped out of the way and grabbed a kunai. Her eyes narrowed as she flung it at her opponent while Sasuke hurled a black fireball at the man. Takuma dodged the fireball but not the blade and hissed as it penetrated his arm. He ripped it out his demonic eyes blazing.

"You'll pay for that little girl." He growled hurling a barrage of boulders at her. She jumped back and crossed her arms and closed her eyes bracing for impact when she heard the familiar sound of Sasuke's lightning screaming in front of her. Her eyes flew open as she watched him flash past her reducing the boulders in her immediate path to dust. Her moment of relief was shot lived as she noticed a clone of the mad scientist materialize behind the Uchiha and she gritted her teeth. She glanced behind her and noticed a boulder falling and using the training she'd received from Lee she bent her knees and pushed off the rock focusing her chakra into her fist as she went.

"Cha!" she exclaimed as she slammed her fist into the clone reducing it to smoke just before its kunai reached her partner's back. Her momentum continued to carry her forward and her fist connected with the ground breaking it up and sending the mad scientist flying backwards.

Sasuke blinked and looked at her a little smirk coming to his lips before he refocused his attention on Takuma. "We've got him on the defense now. Let's go." He said leaping forward as his body began to glow purple. A large hand appeared around him and he slammed the massive fist into the white haired man sending him flying back further.

"I didn't know you could summon just body parts!" Sakura remarked as she followed up with a chakra charged kick that forced the man into the ground.

The Uchiha barely shrugged in response before he flashed forward tackling her to the ground just in time to avoid a stream of fire.

"What the hell?" she murmured glancing up past Sasuke to see Naruto shrouded in Kurama's chakra exchanging blows with the massive black dragon above him.

"It looks like he's having a bit of trouble with the overgrown lizard." Sasuke remarked as he got to his feet and pulled Sakura up from the ground.

"Wouldn't anyone have trouble with a dragon?" she muttered.

"Gaara's having trouble fighting Onchou too." The Uchiha noted as he watched the girl shrouded in silver chakra force the Kazekage back with a blast of water.

"We just need to have faith in them." Sakura replied softly. "All three of them."

"Onchou is the enemy now." Sasuke reminded her.

"I don't think so." Sakura replied. "She's our friend, she's just a little lost right now. Just like you were." She said glancing at him. "Besides, something tells me that there's more to this than meets the eye." Her eyes flickered heavenward again as Gaara and Onchou clashed again sending a wind shock wave that even knocked the winged dragons off course. "I believe in you Onchou." She murmured. "Now let's finish off this creep!" she said tugging on her gloves as Takuma rose from the crater his hands glowing green as he healed himself.

Sasuke nodded his body glowing purple as he began to construct a full sized Susanoo. "I've had enough of this guy." He muttered.

9$9

Gaara grunted as he weaved his sand in an attempt to avoid the blast of ice cold water aimed at him.

"Come to your senses." Gaara called out as forced her back with a blast of sand. "Come back to us Onchou."

"Shut up!" she replied her chakra flaring as she send a barrage of lightning at him which he deflected. "I'm so sick and tired of all of this!" she cried drawing her sword and charging forward slicing through his sand. Her eyes widened as his sand formed a giant arm and knocked the weapon from her grip. It then formed a hand and wrapped around her drawing her towards him. "Let go!" she yelled. "What are you doing!?"

He didn't reply as he materialized in front of her and activated his ultimate defense sealing both of them inside his ball of sand.

Onchou glared at the Kazekage who sighed. "Will you listen to me now?" he asked softly.

She turned away from him and slammed her fists against the wall of sand. "Let me out." She growled darkly.

"Forgive me." He said moving towards her. "I was a fool for listening to the council instead of my own heart. I had this idea in my head that if I went against the council I would betraying their trust but I was really just being a coward. They betrayed me once yet I was still so desperate for their approval." He balled his hand into a fist. "I shouldn't have listened to a word they said. I should've came after you as soon as everyone was recovered."

"Stop talking." Onchou replied her voice broken as she smacked her fist against the wall of sand again. "Please just leave me alone."

"I won't." he replied. "I promised you that I'd protect you and I'd never leave you alone again."

"So what?" she replied. "You broke that same promise to me less than seventy two hours later. Why should I believe a word you say now?" her hand raised again to hit the wall again and grabbed her wrist and tugged her around into she was facing him and pressed her up against the wall.

"You know I'm telling you the truth." He said looking into her silver tinged eyes. "Listen to my soul song, open up the soul link. You'll know then that I speak the truth."

"Stop it." She begged as tears formed in her eyes. "I don't want to be hurt again. I don't want to be alone again."

He lowered his head and gritted his teeth before he dragged her towards him wrapping his arms around her pressing her body to his until there was no space between them. "I'll never abandon you again." He promised. "I'll give up the title of Kazekage if I have to. Her eyes widened and she began to shake in his arms before her own arms moved to circle his waist clutching at his rust colored coat underneath the gourd on his back as she began to sob. He laid his head on top of hers and stroked her back gently. "Will you let us help you again?" he asked as he felt her body begin to relax. "Stop this act of yours and let us help you defeat Takuma once and for all."

She sighed as she nodded against his shoulder. "I'm not surprised that you saw right through me. Sakura's on to me too." She admitted.

He nodded and leaned back brushing the tears from her face with his thumbs. "Let's fight together, just like we did when we fought Chimera."

"Ok." She said with a smile. "Let's do this."

He smiled back and nodded as he raised his hands. "Release." He murmured. The walls vanished and Onchou's power flared as she hurled towards the ground her eyes focused on Takuma who was about to unleash a blast on the downed Sakura. Sasuke was nearby his jaw clenched as he tried to cut through the slabs of rock separating him from his partner. She willed her body to become lightning finding it easier than ever with her new power and materialized in front of the medic creating a barrier to protect them both.

"What?" Takuma stammered his eyes widening at the sight.

The violet haired girl knelt beside the medic her hands glowing green as she healed the acid burns. "Onchou?" Sakura murmured looking up at her.

"Hey Sakura." Onchou replied. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No." she replied with a smile. "Are you back?"

The violet haired girl smiled as she extended a hand to help her friend up. "Of course not." She replied. "I never left." She replied with a wink as she raised her hand. "Release!"

Ino, Sai, Kiba and Shikamaru stood up and looked at their bodies surprised to see they were unharmed. Sasuke's eyes widened and then he smirked. "Genjutsu."

"Of course." Onchou replied with a smirk. "I could never actually bring myself to hurt my friends." Her gaze traveled heavenward. "Alright Shadow!" she called out. "That's enough of that. You can go join yours siblings now."

The black dragon rumbled in response and then sighed. "And It was just starting to get good." He muttered.

"Sorry." Onchou replied. "Now get going! Dolls are starting to near the border that separates The Land of Fire from the Land of Wind. Don't let a single one get through you understand?"

"Of course." Shadow replied before he turned to Naruto who was staring at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "That was a good battle. One of the best I've experienced in ages. Thank you." And then he flapped his wings and shot off across the sky towards The Land of Fire.

"You wretched girl." Takuma snarled as he stared at her. "You had this planned from the start."

"Of course I did." Onchou replied.

"So is your loyalty with Suna." He asked. "The cowards who let Heiwa burn by the hands of the Atksuki!?"

"No." she said. "My loyalty lies with my friends."

His eyes widened and then narrowed as his breathing increased as he went to unleash a flurry of acid on her. Gaara moved swiftly sensing the attack through the reopened soul link and forced Takuma to back down as he stood protectively in front of Onchou who instinctively moved closer to the Kazekage.

Takuma's eyes flashed. "The Kazekage." He murmured. "You used the soul link on him." He began to laugh his hands clenching and unclenching as he did so. "Of course! Just like your mother. You gave yourself to Suna scum!" he reached inside his shirt and pulled out a syringe. "No matter, I'll just kill him then destroy all of Suna!" he screeched as he plunged the needle into his leg. He formed hand signs and then released a mass of chakra as his body began to contort and change.

"What's happening?" Shikamaru asked jogging up with Temari to join them.

"I have no idea." Onchou admitted her eyes widening as the man began to grow wings bursting from his back as his hands became claw like. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" Kankuro asked.

"He's using that drug combined with a transformation jutsu to become part dragon." She muttered. "It's similar to what he used to create Nightmare. He must be insane, he already has Black Water in his system."

The man took off into the sky and began to fly in a jagged pattern through the sky and the violet haired girl gasped. "Oh no. We have to stop him!"

"What did you hear?" Naruto asked. "What's he planning?"

"He's going to destroy as much of Suna as he can with his own hands and then wipe it from the map completely when his body is destroyed by the black water." She replied gritting her teeth. "Damn! I still have to get rid of the rest of the Dolls too!"

Gaara turned and laid his hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to do this alone remember? We'll help you."

She blinked and then nodded. "Right." She replied with a little smile. "Ok then. I have a jutsu that I can use that will take care of most of the Dolls. The rest of you try to bring down Takuma and his generals." She was surprised when she heard the song of death nearing her and turned just in time to watch her father behead Storm Bringer who had a kunai in his hand just inches from her back. "Thanks Father." She replied with a little smile.

He nodded and sheathed his swords before he pulled her into his arms. "I'm so glad you're safe." He said softly.

She blinked in surprise at the physical affection and blushed. "Mom never hugged me." She admitted softly.

Tamiki bowed his head and hugged her tighter. "I'll give you all the hugs you missed out on then." He replied. "Let's get this take care of alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this!" she exclaimed.

Sakura nudged Sasuke. "See? I told you that everything wasn't what it seemed."

"Yeah yeah." He murmured rolling his eyes. "Let's just get this done. I'm ready to go home."

Sakura's eyes widened at his words. "And where is home?" she asked him softly.

"Wherever you're staying." He replied quickly. His eyes widened at his own words and a little blush colored his cheeks. "I mean…"

"Don't!" Sakura exclaimed covering his lips with her hand. "I'm going to savor this moment forever. Say anything more and I'll punch you for ruining it."

He blinked and nodded before looking up as Onchou rocketed into the sky her hands forming signs. A song tumbled from her lips and the dragons stopped and then lifted their heads harmonizing with her. She hovered above the ground her ears glowing blue with her eyes closed in concentration as the dragons unleashed a series of attacks. Annihilating the Doll army with pinpoint accuracy.

"Alright guys! Let's not let Onchou do all the work!" Naruto called out. "Sasuke! Gaara! You're with me! We'll take down that dragon freak! Hinata, Sakura, and Ino you go with Kiba to attend to the wounded. The rest of you take care of the last generals and those Dolls. Sound like a plan?" he asked looking over at Shikamaru.

The shadow ninja smirked. "Sounds like an excellent plan to me."

"Alright then! Let's go!"

"Be careful Naruto!" Hinata called out.

"You too." The Uzumaki replied smiling at the blue haired girl.

"Sasuke…" Sakura started.

"I know." He replied cutting her off, reaching out to tap her in the middle of her forehead. "The same goes for you."

She blushed and then nodded. "Right. Let's go!" she called out racing with her team across the desert.

Sasuke turned towards Takuma and unleashed his chakra to form a full sized Susanoo and rushed forward with the Kazekage and Naruto hot on his heels.

The dragon man gaped at the giant purple man for a spilt second before it slammed its massive fist into his face sending him flying back into the desert. Naruto followed up with a massive Rasenshuriken that cut the man deeply as Gaara followed up using his sand arm to crush the man holding him in place.

"Why?" Takuma rasped. "Why do you all fight for Suna? It's a village run by selfish, arrogant people who only care about themselves."

"We're not fighting for Suna!" Naruto replied blasting the man with a giant rasengan. Sasuke pushed his fire chakra into the giant's hand who fired it at the monster of a man letting the black flames consume him. "We're fighting for our friends!" he exclaimed as Gaara created a second arm and slammed it into the man.

"The girl will now become a weapon for Suna." Takuma rasped as his body began to pulse preparing to break apart.

"She won't." Gaara replied as he prepared to throw the volatile man into the sky. "I will not allow it." He thrust the man as far into the sky as he could with his sand sweat dripping from his brow as his chakra dipped. He gritted his teeth and then his eyes widened as he felt chakra flowing into him.

"It looks like you could use a little boost." Came Onchou's voice in his head.

He smiled a little. "Thank you." He replied as he used the strength he borrowed from her to push him higher. Finally satisfied with the height, he retracted his sand and Takuma exploded sending a shockwave of black, red, and green energy through the air.

"Good job team. It looks like the others are nearly finished as well." Naruto said as he floated back to the ground.

Sasuke nodded. "Onchou's dragons seemed to have disappeared as well. That must mean things are nearly over."

"Man! I wanted to ride one." The blonde haired ninja pouted.

"How old are you?" Sasuke asked cocking a brow at the Uzumaki.

"Shut up!" Naruto hissed. "You know you thought about it too."

"Where's Ryuu?" Onchou called out as she dashed towards the three shinobi the silver luster gone from her body and her eyes back to their normal amethyst color.

"He should be in the underground hideout with the rest of the civilians." Gaara replied.

"Are the elders there as well?" she asked her eyes wild looking.

"No. They go to a different panic room." He replied. "Why?"

The girl raked her fingers through her hair. "Where's the safe room? Tell me now! Ryuu's in trouble! I can hear it and wherever he is the elders are there too."

"Why on earth would be with them?" Kankuro asked jogging up to them.

"Show me now!" she shrieked her body trembling.

"Alright." Gaara replied closing his eyes briefly as he thought of the place.

"Thank you." She replied before she vanished.

"Where is she going?" Kankuro demanded.

"Ryuu seems to be in trouble and he's with the elders." Gaara replied.

"That's not good. We should follow her." Kankuro said.

"Of course." Gaara said as his body turned to sand. "I won't make the same mistake twice."

"Take us to where they're headed." Naruto demanded looking at Kankuro.

"Sure but why?" he replied taking off towards the passageway leading to Suna.

Naruto snickered. "I'm going to be Hokage one day the least I can do is back up the Kazekage.

Sasuke glanced at him. "Are you sure about that?" he replied. "Didn't I tell you I was going to become Hokage?"

The Uzumaki's eyes widened. "But…. Wait! I thought…"

The Uchiha raised a brow and then smirked a low chuckle rumbling in his chest. "You should see your face." He teased.

Kankuro gaped at the pair. "I didn't know Sasuke Uchiha could joke." He muttered.

"Neither did I." Naruto replied his eyes glancing at his friend warily.

0%0

Onchou gritted her teeth as she sprinted through the tunnels under Suna following the path Gaara had shown her as she heard Ryuu's rough breathing and the splashing sound as he unleashed a water attack on his attackers.

"Almost there!" she grunted as she found the door leading to the large panic room where the council stayed during emergencies. She didn't even bother to push it open and instead blasted it open with her wind chakra. Her eyes narrowed as she quickly took in the scene. Ryuu was standing in near the front of the room water whipping around him as he tried to defend off the twenty Dolls led by a general towards the older members of the council and the few ninja guarding them. Rage boiled inside of her as she heard their songs and realized that the other ninja wanted to help but had been ordered not to by the fearful council members cowering behind their young guards. The team assigned to protect Ryuu were among them and she could sense their anxiety as they watched wanting to be loyal to their Kazekage and their council.

A lightning attack flew at the silver haired boy and he crossed his arms in front of his face prepared to take the blow when Onchou appeared in front of him and sliced through the attack with her sword.

"Onchou?" he murmured looking up at her.

She moved back slightly and laid her hand on his shoulder watching her opponents like a hawk. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her legs. "I am now." He whimpered as tears slid down his cheeks. "I'm so glad you're here!" he cried.

"I'm terribly sorry for being late." She replied. "You did such a good job protecting everyone. Now go to the ones that were supposed to be watching over you and wait for me." She glance at the two young women her eyes glinting dangerously. "You have until the time I finish here to explain to me why you disregarded your Kakekage's orders and have been allowing a child to protect a room full of adults." She snarled.

The two young women cringed at the dark look in her eyes and nodded as Ryuu ran to stand beside them. Satisfied that he was safe enough she turned her attention to the Dolls and young general in front of her. "I assume Takuma sent you to destroy the council?" she murmured.

"That's right Princess." The lightning user stammered stepping back his dark eyes filled with fear. "I was just following orders. I swear I was. The little Prince protected them so we had no choice to but to attack him as well. You understand right?"

"I do." She replied sheathing her sword and the man visibly relaxed slightly. "However, you should also understand the consequences of your actions." She said as an angry wind whipped around her tossing her violet hair as her chakra flared. "You knew full well what would happen to anyone who attempts to harm Ryuu while I'm living." Her gaze flickered back to the silver haired boy. "One of you cover his eyes." She instructed. "I don't want him to see this."

The blonde girl nodded and quickly pressed her hands over the boy's ruby eyes and Onchou nodded in approval before her fingers flexed and wind blades shot from her hands slicing the man to ribbons as he screamed. "Now to take care of the rest of these vermin." She growled as the Dolls began to close in on her. She drew her sword and funneled her electric chakra into it as fire leapt to life in the palm of her free hand. The first Doll advanced and her hand shot out grabbing it by the face and then was reduced it to ash as she pushed with her fire chakra. She then sliced through the next two with her lightning tinged blade. Her rage only increased as she fought through the Dolls. She was angry as Hell. Angry that Ryuu was in such a dangerous place. It was anger that wasn't directed at the Dolls but the council for making a child defend them.

Just as she was starting to let her rage get the better of her, a familiar chakra signature appeared and a hot desert wind carrying grains of sand brushed past her. The Kazekage materialized behind her and quickly pressed a hand over her eyes blocking everything from her view. "It's alright Onchou." He murmured. "I'll take care of the rest."

She whimpered and trembled as he quickly killed the rest of the Dolls. Tears ran down her face wetting his hand. After a few moments he moved his hand the turned her so that she was facing him. "Onchou. None of this is your fault." He murmured. "Go to him. We'll get this sorted out after you've had your moment."

The violet haired girl nodded and moved towards the ruby eyed child she loved more than life itself and opened her arms to him. "Ryuu." She said as she knelt down.

He studied her his lips trembling and then sprinted to her throwing himself into her embrace. "Onchou!" he sobbed burying his face in her shoulder. "I was so scared!" he cried his hands gripping her thin clothes tightly.

"I know." She murmured smoothing a hand over his hair. "You were incredibly brave though. I am so so proud of you." His little body continued to shake with sobs as she held him. "It's alright now." She assured him. "I'm here. Everything is going to be fine."

Naruto, Kankuro, and Sasuke arrived in the room and their eyes widened at the sight of the dead Dolls and what was left of the General's body strewn about the room.

"What happened here?" Naruto asked glancing around the room.

"I'd like to know that myself." Gaara added crossing his arms over his chest.

"What's wrong with Ryuu?" Naruto asked as he moved to where he and Onchou were huddled together on the floor.

Onchou looked up at her blonde friend. "When I arrived, he was fighting against all twenty Dolls and one of Takuma's generals," her eyes flickered to the Elders. "alone." She spat the word as though it was poison in her mouth.

The Kazekage's eyes narrowed as did Naruto's. Kankuro moved to stand beside his brother crossing his arms over his chest and Sasuke moved to stand next to his blond friend placing a hand on his shoulder to help calm the Uzumaki.

"Why in the hell was this kid fighting alone when I can clearly see seven able bodied ninja and twelve elders!?" The blonde shinobi demanded.

"I'd like to know why he's even here in the first place." Kankuro said. "He should've been with the general civilians not here in the panic room."

Gaara glared at the two young women he'd put in charge of Ryuu's care. "Did you forget what your orders were?" he asked. "I distinctly remember telling you to protect this child."

The two young women cringed. "We are sorry Lord Gaara." The blonde murmured bowing low.

"While we were evacuating the council told us that Onchou was among the enemy and to ensure their safety we were to bring Ryuu with us and follow them to the safe room." The brunette explained.

"They said that if the enemy managed to find the emergency safe houses, that they wouldn't attack Ryuu and we'd be protecting the village that way." The blonde added.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he immediately flashed over to the violet haired girl and wrapped his good arm around her as she moved to stand up. "Don't do it." He whispered feeling her chakra flare.

"You were going to use him as a shield?" she asked her voice soft but rough with anger as she raised her head and glared daggers at the council members. "How dare you!?" she snarled her body shaking as she tried to fight the murderous rage building inside her. "You selfish, arrogant bastards!" she screamed. "All of you make me sick! I should've let those monsters kill you. This village would be better off without you vultures around. You don't respect your Kazekage and you use the children of your village as shields because you're so sure that the village won't survived without you? How conceited! The ones that should be on the council are those out there fighting to defend it! Not a bunch of old cronies and has-beens desperately clinging to power." She gritted her teeth as her grip on Ryuu tightened. "You're no different than the mad scientist that attacked the village today, using up the lives of the next generation to prolong your pathetic lives." She stood up and cradled Ryuu in her arms.

"Onchou." Naruto murmured his eyes wide.

She turned to him. "You'll make a great Hokage one day because you would be the first one to lay down his life for your village. You'd never use a child as your shield like these disgusting excuses for human beings did today." She glanced at the older men and women who flinched under her gaze. "I should kill every last one of you, but I won't because I respect your Kazekage and I know that any blood I spilled would stain his hands as well as mine." She glanced at Gaara. "I'm going back to help with the wounded." She told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I'm sure you're exhausted. Why don't you rest for a while?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine." She glanced down at Ryuu whose ruby eyes studied her filled with concern. "Let's go find Sakura." She said in a cheerful tone smiling at the boy. "Kiba's with her too. I bet he'd let you ride on Akamaru's back if you asked him."

Ryuu's eyes brightened. "Really?!" he exclaimed. "Let's hurry!"

She nodded and dashed out of the room.

Gaara, Kankuro, Naruto and Sasuke all turned to face the council and their guards their eyes blazing.

"You know, I'll be the first to admit that I've done some pretty screwed up things in my life, but I've never even considered making a five year old protect me from a pack of bloodthirsty monsters." Sasuke said.

Gaara nodded. "I agree. It was bad enough that you used Onchou as a shield, but to use Ryuu is simply unforgivable." He glared at them. "I followed your council because I truly believed that you had the village's best interests at heart and I wanted to prove to you that I was worth of this title." He lowered his head. "However I now see that I was mistaken. I betrayed someone dear to me and my own heart when I listened to your council and nearly lost them both forever." He raised his head and glared at the council members. "Perhaps you do have the village's well-being at heart but I can no longer condone such underhanded methods." He said walking towards the door. "As of now, this council is disbanded and a new one will be appointed."

"You can't do that!" an older man raged.

"You're overstepping your authority!" an old woman shrieked.

"You'll be removed as Kazekage!" another man roared.

Gaara looked back at them. "If that is the case then so be it." He replied before he walked through the door. "My ninja way and peace of mind are far more important than any title."

Naruto snickered. "Well would you look at that." He murmured. "Little Gaara is finally all grown up."

Kankruo nodded. "I'm so proud of that kid right now." He said with a grin.

"He'll never get away with this!" a council member growled.

The puppeteer snickered. "Of course he will."

"What do you mean?" the councilman asked.

"Gaara is the only one qualified to be Kazekage no matter how you slice it." Naruto replied as he headed towards the door. "He's never let Suna or The Land of Wind down."

Sasuke nodded. "I'm surprised he didn't do away with this useless lot years ago."

Kankuro glanced at the ninja. "The danger is passed so I suggest you get to work leading the civilians back to the surface." His gaze fell on the two girls assigned to protect Ryuu who shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "As for you two..." he growled.

"We're terribly sorry." The blonde said bowing low.

"Yes truly sorry." Her brunette partner replied bowing as well.

He shrugged. "If you're not you will be. My sister is very fond of Ryuu. I wonder how she'll react when she finds out that you abandoned your mission to protect him to listen to the men and women who betrayed her little brother that you're so infatuated with."

The brunette cringed. "We are so dead."

The blonde sighed. "Deader than dead."

 **P.S.** Alright! Takuma is finally dead and the world is saved! For now anyway. You know the world of Naruto. It's just a matter of time before someone else tries to take over. The next chapters will wrap things up and have large helpings of sugar to make up for the lack thereof during the past couple of chapters. Thanks for all of the love and support!


	28. Chapter 27

Author's Notes: Thank you for all of the support of this story that is rapidly coming to a close. I apologize for downplaying Naruto and Sasuke's abilities. To be honest writing battle scenes isn't my forte and I have a couple of other reviewers that scalp me every time I misspell an attack or name so I try to stay away from things I don't know as well to try to keep the peace and my inbox empty. I was also trying to wrap up this story quickly so I was being a tad lazy. In addition, I may have unintentionally given the impression that it was Onchou who was killing the Dolls but it was actually her summons. Also, this is a story I made up so if it doesn't follow you taste don't read it. I'm not going to re-write the thing to suit your tastes and telling me how 'pissed off' you are that your ship isn't getting the attention you want is just annoying. I will try to do better in the future particularly in the sequel to this that I'm beginning to form in my head. This story started out as just a Sasuke and Sakura one shot and grew to what it was. As I wrote it, I liked the idea of Gaara saving someone in a similar way that Naruto had saved him years ago. I also felt like Sakura and Sasuke's relationship would benefit from watching how Gaara had to overcome part of his past and I wanted something to trigger Sasuke's need to wanders again (because I am planning a sequel that will involve Sasuke and Sakura's journey's together that doesn't have a mission involved with it)

Sakura sighed and arched her back against the uncomfortable desk chair she sat at and reached her hands high above her head as she stretched. "That was the last one." She muttered as she laid the last medical chart of the day on the desk.

"Are you done then?" Ino asked as the pink haired medic stood up.

She nodded. "Yup." She glanced at the clock. "Just in time too. It's almost time to leave isn't it?"

The mind transfer ninja smiled and nodded as she moved around the room. "So what's going to happen with the stone?" Ino asked. "Is it still inside Onchou?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes but she's decided to just leave it there for now."

"Why?" Ino asked.

"She said that the stone no longer serves the purpose it had originally intended and that she had a strange dream about a woman with pale eyes and skin trying to take possession of it. At first she wanted to cast the stone into the dragon dimension but without really knowing how to remove it, Gaara convinced her it was too risky and said that Suna would protect her and the stone's power until she could learn to remove it safely." Sakura explained.

The blonde nodded and put away the file in her hand. "Sakura? I was wondering, what's with that forehead poke thing Sasuke does to you?"

Sakura's green eyes widened as she touched the spot and then she blushed. "That's a secret." She replied with a smile. It was his way of telling her that he loved her. Though she didn't know where it came from, she was sure that was what it meant. Making a mental note to ask him about it when they were in private she slipped her pack into place on her back and then smiled at her friend. "Common! We don't want to be late. You know how Lee is."

Ino groaned. "He's going to push us so hard." She muttered.

Sakura giggled at her friend's disgusted expression as they made their way out of the lab and onto the streets of Suna. It was midmorning and the Leaf Shinobi having completed their mission were returning to their own village with the addition of a blond sand kunochi. The pink haired medic searched the crowd in front of her and smiled when she spotted a purple scarf tied around a mess of ink colored spiked and increased her pace slightly.

"Sasuke!" she called out as she neared the man.

He turned at the sound of her voice and nodded to her as she and Ino quickly jogged up to him. "Did you get everything taken care of?" he asked.

She nodded. "I left several dosages of the Black Water antidote behind along with copies of my notes on how to make it. If that crap ever pops up again, we'll be ready for it."

Sasuke nodded a little hint of smirk playing on his lips as he reached for her hand. "Let's go. The others are gathering at the end of the corridor."

%&%

Sakura smiled at the small crowd gathered at the entrance to Suna. They joined the group and began to say their goodbyes. The pink haired medic bowed low to the Kazekage. "Thank you so much for all you've done for us Lord Gaara." She said.

He shook his head. "I should be the one thanking you. You helped heal my people and saved the life of someone else who is precious to me." He said. "You are welcome here anytime."

She smiled. "Thank you very much." Her gaze then turned to Kankuro. "Don't hate us too much for taking your big sister away." She teased.

The puppeteer chuckled. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. I had a feeling it would end up like this the day they battled in the duel during the Chunin exams." He said watching the blonde lecture the pair of kunochi's who had been in charge of Ryuu's care for what seemed like the one hundredth time. Shikamaru walked forward and touched her shoulder gently and she turned to look at him her face softening slightly. "I don't mind as long as he makes her happy." He replied.

Sakura nodded. "He will. I'm sure of it." Her attention then turned to the silver haired child standing next to the eldest brother of the sand siblings. "Look after yourself Ryuu." She said ruffling his hair.

He nodded and stepped forward giving her a tight hug. "Thank you so much for saving Onchou." He said before releasing her and looking up at her. "Will I see you again?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. We're friends right?"

Ryuu beamed. "Alright!" he glanced at Sasuke. "You better take good care of her scary eyes!" he snapped trying to frown but failing.

"I will. Don't worry." Sasuke replied. Ryuu nodded and Sakura moved to stand in front of Onchou.

The violet haired girl reached out and hugged her gently. "Thank you for all you've done for me and Ryuu." She said before she released her. "If you ever need anything from me let me know."

Sakura smiled. "I was happy to do it." She said. "It's such a wonderful thing that you've been accepted as official citizens of Suna. That'll make you much easier to find."

Onchou smiled. "Yeah. I finally have a home again. It's kind of a strange feeling but I think I like it." She admitted blushing a little. Her gaze flickered to Sasuke and she extended her hand towards his. "Thank you Sasuke, for everything." She said. "I'm sorry about all of the rude things I said before."

He blinked in surprise and clasped hands with her briefly. "It's alright." He assured her. "You had your reasons."

The violet haired girl nodded and then smiled. "You know, Itachi loved you with all of his heart. He really was a gentle soul in spite of everything."

The Uchiha's smiled slightly. "I know that. Thank you."

Onchou smiled. "You're welcome. Look after Sakura. She's has one of the biggest, strongest hearts around but it hasn't been cared for as well as it should have."

Sasuke nodded. "I will. I promise."

She snickered. "I'll hold you to that."

Naruto stopped in front of the newest citizens of Suna and grinned at them as he hugged Ryuu tight. "I'm going to miss you buddy!" he said ruffling his silver hair.

"I'll miss you too Naruto." Ryuu replied. "But we're friends so we'll see each other again right?"

The blonde grinned. "You better believe it!" he said as the boy beamed.

Onchou bowed to him and gasped in surprise when the Uzumaki hugged her. "You'll never be alone again Onchou, you got that? We'll be there for you whenever you need us." he said.

She nodded and blushed and Sakura didn't miss the barely perceptible twitch of the Kazekage's eye as he watched the scene.

"Yes. Thank you Naruto." Onchou replied hugging him back. "Thank you so much."

He grinned and took a step back. "The next time we meet you better let me have a ride on one of those dragons."

She chuckled. "Of course." She replied before her face became serious. "Naruto, when the time comes that Ryuu begins to struggle with the beast inside of him, would it be alright if called on you then to help him?"

The blond ninja nodded. "Of course. I'd be happy to."

The violet haired girl smiled relief tinging her eyes. "Thank you. All of you." She said raising her voice slightly. "I'm honored to have gained such loyal, honorable friends."

"We should be saying the same think." Kiba said with a grin. "Feel free to visit any time."

Temari nodded. "Seriously! Don't be a stranger. We're practically family already." She said with a wink.

The amethyst girl's cheeks colored at the comment and the blond kunochi laughed. "We'll see you around I'm sure." Shikamaru said putting his arm around his fiancé.

"Thank you all for coming." Gaara said stepping forward. "We are grateful to you. You are all welcome here when ever you'd like."

"Sure thing Gaara." Naruto replied with a grin. "We'll see you later then!" he said turning to lead his group out.

"Since we are here in the zenith of youth I propose a training exercise that Guy Sensei himself created in this very desert years ago!" Lee exclaimed. "Let us partner up and carry someone by piggy back to Konoha!"

The group turned to cock a brow at the jumpsuit wearing ninja. After a few minutes of awkward silence TenTen sighed and shook her head. "Oh what the hell." She muttered. "Let's go Lee!" she said scrambling onto his back.

"Wait! Are you guys serious!?" Kiba exclaimed.

Naruto grinned. "Alright then! Hinata get on!"

"Now that Naruto has joined in the rest of the group is sure to follow. I must choose a partner quickly." Shino muttered.

"Get on shadow boy!" Temari exclaimed tossing her fan to Shikamaru who blushed and gaped at her.

"You're kidding me right!?" he stammered.

"Nope. Now listen to your elder and get on before I let someone else get on my back." Temari replied with a wicked grin. Shikamaru cringed and grudgingly climbed on the sand kunoichi's back.

"I'm going to make you pay for this later." He assured her letting his teeth scrape her ear.

"I'm looking forward to it." She replied before she took off across the desert.

"Sai! Let's do this!" Ino exclaimed climbing onto the painter's back.

"Are you sure about this?" he muttered.

"Just think of it this way. We're strengthening out bond as a couple." She replied nuzzling his ears. He blushed and shrugged.

"Alright then." He muttered.

Sakura looked at Sasuke who cringed. "Don't even think about it." He muttered.

"Only if you hold my hand." She replied with a smile.

He sighed and nodded twining his fingers with hers as they moved through the desert.

"We did it TenTen!" Lee exclaimed as they skidded to a halt just inside the village.

The brown haired girl groaned and slumped over across his back. "Why did I agree to this?" she moaned.

"Nice job!" Naruto exclaimed coming in a few moments later with Hinata on his back.

Ino and Sai arrived minutes later with the blonde smiling as Sai groaned. "Thank you sweetie!" the blonde exclaimed.

"Sure." Sai remarked blushing.

Sakura and Sasuke arrived next and rolled their eyes. "Alright. Who's going to report in?" Sakura asked.

"I'll do it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Excellent. In that case, I'm going home to take a shower." Sakura replied. "Are you going to come with me?" she asked the Uchiha.

He blinked in surprise and Ino snorted. The pink haired medic's eyes widened as she turned red up to the tips of her ear. "That's not what I meant!" she exclaimed putting her arms out in front of her defensively. "I meant…"

"Yeah sure you didn't." Naruto teased.

Sakura groaned in frustration and quickly dashed across the roof tops towards her apartment mortified at her own words and actions.

"So, are you going to join her?" Naruto asked wiggling his brow suggestively.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and said nothing as he walked down the street towards the medic's apartment.

"He's totally going to join her." The blonde whispered in Hinata's ear. He yelped as a small lightning bolt struck the spot just in front of his feet and chuckled nervously. "I'm only joking!" he called out.

"Seriously, don't tease them so much or it'll be your own fault when you lose another arm." Shikamaru chastised.

The Uzumaki grinned. "I can't help it." He admitted. "I'm just so excited that he's actually giving her the attention she deserves and letting himself thaw out a little in the process."

Sakura groaned as she let the water cascade over her body. "I am such an idiot!" she muttered as she scrubbed her scalp as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair. "How could I say something like that to him?" Satisfied with the state of her cleanliness she turned off the water and stepped out quickly wrapping a towel around her body. She remembered what Sasuke had said about the hole in the wall and crouched down to examine the spot nodding in satisfaction when she found it had been properly filled in. A little sigh escaped her lips as she walked out of her bathroom.

"What should I do for dinner today?" she muttered rubbing a towel over her hair as she studied the floor.

"How about going out somewhere with me?" a low voice suggested.

Sakura's eyes widened and she jumped as she spotted the Uchiha standing near her bedroom door leaning against the wall smirking at her. "Whaa!" she exclaimed clutching the towel closer to herself. "What are you doing here?"

He snickered and walked forward reaching out to touch her damp hair. "You're the one that invited me in." he reminded her.

She blushed darker than her hair and chewed on her bottom lip nervously. "That's not what I meant and you know it." She muttered.

He chuckled at her expression and tapped her in the middle of her forehead. "I'll shower and then we'll go somewhere." He said before he walked past her brushing his fingertips over her bare shoulders sending goosebumps over her flesh.

"Well what should I wear?" she asked.

"Something nice I guess." He replied waving to her before he vanished through the door.

Sakura blushed and went into her room frowning slightly. Nice? Did she have anything that really qualified as nice in her closet? She pulled the doors open and scanned through her clothes.  
Once again she cursed her lack of selection and settled on a red top the zipped in front similar to what she wore in during her chunin days and paired it with a knee length black skirt and pink sandals. She decided to omit the headband and let her hair fall naturally to frame her face. She took a deep breath as she slipped the cherry blossom necklace over her neck touching it gently before a thought occurred to her. Quickly, she left the room and walked to her kitchen and picked up the newly installed phone there and dialed a number.

"Hello?" a feminine voice answered.

"Hey mom. It's me." Sakura replied. "I'm back from my mission."

"I'm glad to hear it." Her mother replied "How did it go?"

"Pretty well." The pink haired medic replied. "I was wondering if you and dad are going to be home tonight."

"We should be." Her mother replied. "Is there something you need?"

Sakura smiled. "Yes actually. I'd like to introduce you to someone if that's alright."

"That's fine." Her mother replied. "Just come over whenever. Our door will be open."

"Thanks mom." She replied. "I'll see you tonight." She said before she hung up the phone.

"You have a phone now?" Sasuke asked as he entered the room dressed more formally than she'd seen him before with a black collared shirt bearing the Uchiha crest and slacks.

"Yeah. Kakashi ordered it actually. He said he wanted to be able to contact me quickly in case of emergency." She said with a shrug. "The only ones who really call me are Naruto, my parents and Shizune."

He smirked. "Only because you haven't given your number out to anyone else right?"

She blushed. "To be fair, I didn't give it to Naruto either. He swiped it from Kakashi."

He shook his head. "Alright, are you ready to go then?" he asked.

"Sure." She replied. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"You'll find out." He replied as the left her little apartment. They stopped at the flower shop run by Ino's family and the Uchiha bought two bouquets of flowers before continuing through the village nearing the place where the Uchiha compound used to stand.

Sakura watched as Sasuke knelt down and laid the flowers down in the spot where his house once stood. His eyes closed as he bowed his head and pressed his palms together. After several moments he stood again. "I know that they have official graves erected in the cemetery but I feel closer to them here. Itachi too." He murmured.

Sakura nodded and bowed to the place where his life had changed forever tears slipping down her cheeks as she reflected on all of the heartache and sorrow he'd experienced. She glanced over at the last Uchiha whose eyes were dry but clearly reflected pain. Instinctively she reached out to him and wrapped her arms around his waist laying her head against his chest. "You're very important to me Sakura." Sasuke said softly. "That's why I brought you here."

"Thank you Sasuke." She said softly. "I'll visit them often."

He nodded. "Thank you." He murmured before grabbing her hand and walking with her back towards the main part of the village. They opted for one of the smaller, quieter restaurants in town to preserve their privacy. They didn't talk much though they didn't need to as they brushed one another's hands and feet comforting one another without words.

"So where are we going now?" Sasuke asked as the pink haired medic pulled him from the path to her apartment and towards the more compact part of town.

"You introduced me to you family." She said as she stopped at a door and knocked. "Now you can meet mine."

A blonde woman answered the door and beamed at the medic. "Sakura!" she exclaimed pulling her in for a hug.

"Hi mom." She replied hugging her back. "Is now a good time?"

"Of course." The older woman replied stepping back. Her eyes flickered to the Uchiha and her brow furrowed slightly. "Please come inside. Your father is in the living room."

Sakura nodded and gave Sasuke a reassuring smile as she stepped over the threshold of her parent's house and slipped off her sandals.

Sasuke took a deep breath and followed her in and repeated the same motion. He wasn't a fearful man. Just days ago he'd stared down a fire breathing dragon and didn't flinch, however he was afraid now as he followed Sakura into her parents cozy home. He looked at the photos on the wall that chronicled her life from birth to most recently where she'd been named one of the world's top medics. He felt a pang of regret as he studied the pictures from her chunin days wondering how he'd been so blind to her growing beauty.

"Sasuke, you can sit in here." Sakura said motioning to a chair situated across the living space from the couch where the Haruno couple sat.

He nodded and sat down stiffly his heart pounding in his chest. Sakura offered him a smile and sat down in the chair next to his.

"Mom, dad this is Sasuke Uchiha." She said motioning to the young man. "I wanted to introduce him to you formally since I don't think I ever have in the past."

"I see." Kizashi replied setting down the paper he was reading. "So you're back in the village then?"

"For now." Sasuke replied. "I helped with the same mission Sakura was sent on recently."

"I see." The pink haired ninja replied. "I trust the mission was a success?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes it was. Relations between Suna and Konoha are now stronger than ever."

Her mother smiled. "That's good to hear." She said before her eyes flickered to her husband who nodded. "Sakura dear, would you mind helping me in the kitchen for a few moments?" she asked.

"Not at all." Sakura replied standing. "We'll be back." She assured her companion before she left the room with her mother.

Sasuke sighed. He knew what was coming next but that didn't mean he was ready for it. Sakura's father wasn't an enemy he could just cut down or cast a genjutsu on and defeat. If he was serious about his feelings and relationship with Sakura, he'd have to answer to this man for everything he'd done and he knew that the older ninja wouldn't be as forgiving as his daughter was.

"So, what do you want with my daughter Sasuke Uchiha?" Kizashi asked his eyes meeting the Uchiha's.

"I'd like to pursue her." The raven haired shinobi replied his muscles tense. Talking wasn't his thing but being brutally honest generally speaking was.

"I see." The pink haired man replied crossing his arms over his chest. "What makes you think you've earned that right?"

Sasuke sighed and pressed his palms together and looked down at the floor as the demons from his past hissed and writhed within him. "Nothing." He replied simply. "I haven't done anything to earn the right to be by her side. In fact I've earned every right for her to tear me to pieces and leave me to die on the side of the road." He murmured as his body trembled. "Yet in spite of all that, she says she loves me and wants to be by my side."

"And what about you?" The Haruno asked. The young man raised his head and looked at him. "What do you feel for Sakura?" he asked.

The ink haired man blinked and then glanced towards the kitchen where he could hear Sakura talking with her mother though she couldn't make out what they were saying. "She's more than I will ever deserve." He murmured.

"Do you love her?" Kizashi asked.

Sasuke smiled. "I do." He replied before turning his gaze to the pink haired man. "I really do."

The older ninja sighed and nodded his head. "Very well then." He muttered. "I guess I'll allow it." His eyes bored into the Uchiha. "Don't get the wrong idea. I don't like you nor do I trust you. I heard my little girl cry herself to sleep far too many times over the years for that, however I acknowledge that you seemed to have changed for the better. Not only that but…" he sighed and bowed his head. "even if I said no she'd still do whatever she wanted anyway."

The Uchiha chuckled. "That's true. She does what she thinks is right no matter what anyone else says."

The pink haired ninja nodded and then glared at the young man. "If you do anything to hurt her, I will end your life with my own hands." He threatened.

Sasuke sighed. "I figured as much." He admitted. "You don't have to worry though. I've already decided to spend the rest of my life protecting her and giving her that kind of life she deserves."

"Good answer." Kizashi said with a wink.

%&%

"Just come out and say it mother. I know you want to." Sakura said as she went to work brewing tea.

Mebuki sighed as she pulled down the cups. "I don't think you should be with that man." She said. "He's done horrible things to you. You deserve someone who will treat you with respect like Naruto."

The pink haired medic sighed. "Mom, I told you already. Naruto is like a brother to me and always has. He's engaged to Hinata now anyway."

"Well what about Kiba, or Rock Lee? They've both been very loyal and devoted to you." The blond woman argued.

Sakura sighed and lowered her head. "Mother. I love him." She said softly.

Mebuki sighed. "I understand that dear but he's dangerous."

"Not anymore." Sakura replied. "He's changed for the better and he truly wants to make up for all of the awful things he did." She blushed and looked down. "Mamma, he told me that he loves me. I heard it from his own lips." She looked at the blonde woman tears shimmering in her eyes. "He's lost everyone he's ever said those words to before. Think about how much emotion had to be behind that."

The blonde haired woman's eyes widened and then softened before she shook her head. "I see." She said before she pulled her daughter in for a hug. "I that case, do what you feel is best. You weren't going to listen to what I said anyway."

The pink haired medic hugged the woman back. "Thank you mom. I really do love him."

"I know that." Mebuki replied. "From the time you were small I knew it." She said stepping back. "If he breaks your heart again though, I'll break that pretty face of his."

Sakura snorted. "I bet you will." She glanced at the living room. "I'm pretty sure there will be a line too."

The blond kunoichi laughed as she arranged sweets on a plate. "Let's get back out here before your father bores the kid to death."

The pink haired medic smiled. "Right." She said pouring the tea and following her mother back to the living room.

&%&

An hour and a half later with night now engulfing Konoha, Sakura and Sasuke left her parent's home promising to visit again and made their way towards the medic's apartment.

"I'm sorry we were there so long." Sakura said as they walked.

Sasuke shrugged. "It's fine. I was expecting it."

She arched a brow at him. "Well then, did everything go as you expected it to?"

The Uchiha nodded. "Pretty much. Your father said he'd kill me if hurt you again."

Sakura chuckled. "Of course he did." She remarked as they arrived at her door. She opened it and slipped out of her shoes and padded into the kitchen. "Are you ready for bed?" she asked as she moved to the living room floor and unfolded the futon for him. When he didn't reply, she stood and turned and her heart immediately jumped in her chest as his eyes met hers. They were filled with something dark yet exciting and she immediately blushed. "Sasuke?" she said surprised by how breathy and shaky her voice sounded.

He walked over to her using determined strides and she felt a little like a rabbit being stalked by a wolf as she stood rooted to the spot her pulse pounding in her ears. He came level with her and reached out to stroke her hair. "Sakura." He murmured as he stepped closer and pressed his lips to hers. His lips were hot, greedy, and demanding as they moved against hers his hands slipping under the fabric of her shirt. He tore his lips from hers and laid them against her ear. "I want you." He whispered. "All of you." His hands gripped her waist under her clothes. "If you don't want this, I'll leave. I just…"

She grabbed his face and brought it to hers and kissed him with all of the love and passion she felt for him pulling away when she became desperate for air. "Take me." She said looking into his eyes. Those eyes that had captured her from the moment she'd laid eyes on him. "I'll give you every part of me."

He groaned in response and laid his lips on her neck as his fingers found the zipper to her top and pulled it down. He roughly pushed it off of her shoulders and moved his mouth down to her collar bone as his hands quickly undid the clasp of her bra and pulled if from her body. She squeaked when his good hand gripped her breast.

"How are you so good at that already?" she asked breathlessly as she tugged at his shirt. He smirked as he moved away to pull it over his head ignoring the buttons.

"I'm a quick learner." He replied before he swept her into his arms and then laid her on the futon and quickly pulled the skirt from her hips and hovered over her. She looked beautiful with her hair splayed around her head like a halo, her firm rose tipped breasts, the slim waist and gentle curve of her hips that led to slender legs. "You are so beautiful." He murmured.

She blushed and covered herself as best she could. "Don't stare at me like that."

He smirked and trailed his fingers of her skin memorizing the shape and feel of her as a bolt of desire went through him. He tugged his own pants off and then laid over her claiming her lips with his groaning at the sensation of his skin on hers. His lips moved down her neck sucking and nibbling at the skin as his hands focused their attention on her breasts stroking and squeezing the soft mounds. Her mews and moans sent another wave of desire through him as he fisted his hands in her hair. His mouth traveled lower and captured a rose colored nipple in his mouth earning a cry from her which made him smirk against her skin. He sucked at the bud loving how her hips squirmed and bucked in response.

"Sasuke!" she moaned and he opened his eyes drinking in the sight of her eyes closed her head thrown back as she arched into his touch. He moved his attention to her second breast and then cautiously moved his hand down the flat planes of her stomach and lower to the scrap of cotton that covered the part of her he'd only seen once. He cupped her womanhood and her eyes flew open and she jumped. His hand started to move away but she shook her head. "Don't stop." She whispered. "It just surprised me. Please don't stop."

He nodded and rubbed her through her panties as he brought his mouth to her breast again sucking and nipping at the bud as he felt her becoming wetter through the cotton. After a few more moments he stopped and moved up to look at her. "Sakura, can I take them off?" he asked blushing slightly.

She nodded and he moved to kneel between her legs and slid the cotton from her finally revealing herself to him. Another wave of desire went through him as he slid off his own boxers and laid on top of her pulling the blankets over both of them as he did. He groaned at the sensation of his length against her leg and slid up further kissing her with passion that astounded both of them. He loved her more than anything. He was sure of it. She alone had the power to get rid of the ice and darkness in his heart. He felt the burning almost uncontrollable desire to sheath himself in her warmth and moved his lips to her ear. "Sakura, are you ready?" he asked.

She nodded. "I am."

"This is my first time." He admitted. "Forgive me if I hurt you."

She chuckled. "It's alright. I love you Sasuke." She said wrapping his arms around his neck. "We'll figure this out together alright?"

He nodded and touched his forehead to hers as he guided himself to her entrance and then pushed inside her with a grunt. He felt something within her break and heard her hiss of pain even as his brain became fuzzy overloaded with the sensation of her warmth. "Sakura." He hissed. "Do you want to stop?"

"Don't stop." She replied. "This pain is nothing. Keep going, you don't have to hold back."

Her words were all the encouragement he needed as he slammed his hips into hers his body dripping with sweat as his hands fisted in the sheets. Her arms wrapped around him clutching at his hair and his back as he continued to move. He could feel her warmth penetrating his being as he surged within her erasing all of the shadows and demons in his soul as they writhed together joined as one. He felt something building up inside of him and cried out as heat unlike and he'd ever felt exploded and he spilled himself inside of her with her name tumbling from his lips. He collapsed on top of her panting and peppered her face with butterfly kisses before he rolled to the side and pulled her into his arms.

"Sakura, are you alright?" He asked after he got his breathing under control.

She nodded. "I'm more than alright." She assured him. "I'm so happy right now that I could die."

He chuckled and pulled her tighter against him. He knew from the moment that he'd entered her that he'd never be able to live without her again and now he knew she felt the same. He reached down and tapped her in the middle of the forehead. "I love you Sakura." He said softly.

"I love you too Sasuke." She replied. "So much."

After a few moments, the Uchiha spoke again. "Sakura, I think I need to leave again."

She blinked and sat up bringing the blankets up with her to cover herself. "Leave? Why?" she asked.

"I just feel like there are still things I need to see and people I can help." He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "Naruto has touched so many lives for the better. Gaara was able to help Onchou and Ryuu because he was following Naruto's example. He even managed to stand up to those on the council who have hated him for years." He glanced out the window. "I want to be able to help others like that as well."

"Can't you do that from here?" she asked him. "I mean it's our job to help others right?"

He shook his head. "I want to be able to make my own path." He replied.

"I see." Sakura replied standing up. "Well, you'll write me this time right? And you won't be away for as long either." She said turning away from him.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he quickly jumped to his feet. "Wait." He said reaching for her.

"It's fine." She said pulling away. "You need to do what you need to do."

He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around her one gripping her waist while the other wrapped around her shoulders pressing his face to her hair. "You misunderstood me." He said softly. "I said I felt I needed to leave but I didn't say that I intended to go alone."

She turned in his arms her eyes wide. "What are you saying?" she asked.

"Come with me Sakura." Sasuke said touching her face. "I want to see more of this world but with you by my side."

Her green eyes shimmered with moisture that spilled down her cheeks. "Of course. I'll go anywhere with you."

He smiled and kissed her gently. "Then we'll go together and keep moving towards tomorrow. That's what Naruto taught us after all."

Sakura smiled and leaned against his chest listening to the steady rhythm of his heart and felt for the first time that it was truly within her grasp. They laid down together on the futon and as she drifted asleep wrapped in Sasuke's arms she saw a little girl. A girl with dark hair, big eyes and a wide forehead smiling at her. "See you soon Mamma."

!

 **P.S.** And that concludes my first attempt at fanfiction! Whoot! This was a lot of fun to write and I'm really surprised at how well it went. It didn't go exactly according to plan but I'm satisfied with it none the less. I am working on a couple of sequels to his one that will focus on Sasuke's and Sakura's travels together and one that explores Gaara and Onchou's relationship so watch for those if you're interested. Sorry to those I disappointed and thanks for all the feedback. I really have grown as a writer from this which was my goal. Anyway, see you next time!


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